The Sperm Donor
by Zosie
Summary: Bella Swan has hit 27 and no man in sight.  No reason she has to lose the whole dream though.  If only she and her friends can figure out a way to get her the second part of her dream, a fatherfree baby.
1. Chapter 1

**Okay, The Death Of Edward Cullen is clearly winding down, not attracting many reviews now, so I'll end it this week and replace it with this if it's popular. Cheers.**

The Sperm Donor

Chapter One

"You are joking, right?" Rosalie Hale said, sipping on her third coffee of the day.

"Nope. Angela was well tanked but she definitely said Dr Edward Cullen was the donor of the sperm you have been processing all week," Alice replied.

"Damn, I miss one night out and Angela finally unbends and gets drunk and I'm not there to see it," Rose sighed.

"Rosalie, that's not the important part. Edward Cullen is donating sperm. There are going to be small copperheaded children appearing all over the place. We need to get you know who into the programme. She's always crushed on him from afar."

Rose shook her head.

"Bella will never agree. I already suggested donor sperm and she decided it would leave a papertrail and one day, the laws will change and the sperm donor will probably be granted the rights to know which kids are his, and allow contact. And she wants her baby to be just that. Her baby. Hers alone. Anyway, his sperm will not be used here in this town, even if it is true. Maybe Angela made the story up. I can't see Dr Edward the Mighty Cullen wasting his DNA on unknown women."

"But she won't just hook up with some random either, in case he remembers and adds up the months and comes to a total of nine since they bonked. I can't see a solution myself. If she won't hook up and she won't buy herself a sample, how will she ever get pregnant?"

"I personally would go the hook up route," Rose replied, draining her cup. "Not that I have anything against turkey basters but I prefer my sperm donations fresh from the donors themselves. If the guy doesn't know who she is, and he's drunk enough to forget by morning, I don't see the problem. Maybe someone from out of town would be best. Or we could take her further afield. Think about that."

"What do you mean?" Alice asked, sipping her own cup of java.

"If Mohammad won't come to the mountain...We could buy plane tickets for her birthday and take her to New York for a couple of nights. Go to a club or two, help her pick out a healthy looking male with decent looks and buy him a drink or two and take him back to the motel with the promise of a bit of fun with all three of us, then get him into bed with Bella. Once he's done the deed with her, we all leave and he wakes up in the morning wondering what the Heck happened and unable to recall if he did spend the night with three amazing women or what?"

"I bet he'll tell his friends he did anyway," Alice laughed.

"Then we come home and nine months down the track, Bella has her anonymous kid and life is perfect. She could use a false name and tell him she lives in LA or Las Vegas, or I dunno, maybe even overseas. She could do a British accent."

"I guess we could suggest this to her and see what she thinks," Alice frowned. It wasn't as easy as they had first assumed, thinking of a way to get a truly father-free baby for their best friend. All roads seemed to lead to a way the Baby Daddy could trace her one day and demand equal rights or whatever.

"So, why is Dr Dishyward donating sperm anyway?" Alice pondered.

"Maybe every time he makes a deposit of it inside his girlfriend it freezes and dies. That Tanya is one cold bitch," Rose replied.

"But their wedding will be amazing. All that Cullen money and you do have to admit, Tanya Denali has the looks and style to be the Bride of the Century. I wonder when they'll tie the knot?"

"It is strange there have been no new announcements since the last time, when she had her tantrum and called the wedding off. They are properly back together again, right?"

"Who knows? She comes to visit a couple of times a week for a lunch date with him but half the time he's too busy and she stomps out of the hospital and he yells at us all for the rest of the day. They truly are a match made in Hell. I know she's stunning but what the fuck? Who would honestly sign up to marry her and be stuck with that cold fish in their bed forever? He could do so much better."

"It is weird. With his looks he could have his pick of women," Rose agreed.

"What would you do if he ever looked your way?" Alice asked, grinning.

"I guess I'd take him home and give him a night to remember. With a real, hot blooded woman who knew what she was doing and leave him exhausted and breathless by morning. And then he'd never touch that Ice Queen again."

"God, the bed wouldn't survive, would it?" Alice said dreamily. Poor Dr Edward looked like he needed a good night of Rosalie Hale love.

"Back to work," Alice sighed, placing her cup into the dishwasher in the Staff Lounge.

"You wouldn't say No to him either," Rose said, as she saw Alice blush and pretend to straighten her already neat and tidy nurses uniform.

"Maybe not. It would be nice to have a night like that to look back on," Alice sighed. "It'll never happen. Tanya has her talons sunk into him so deep, she probably has him followed when they are apart."

"Hmm, well, if he ends up in my bed, I'd pay for a copy of the sex tape," Rose laughed and added her cup to the row in the machine.

"See you tonight?" Alice asked.

"You bet. There's no way I'm not partying on Bella's birthday. Where are we going?"

Alice shrugged. "Somewhere bright and crowded and noisy, with lots of good looking random half drunk men," she stated.

"Just the usual, then," Rose laughed.

She turned and headed in the opposite direction to her friend. Alice worked in the main hospital, either in ER or on the wards.

Rose worked in the Fertility Clinic, a small building off to the far right of the hospital grounds. It was discreetly situated away from the main building so patients got privacy. Nobody needed to know their business, whether they were there like Dr Edward to donate or to see one of the fertility specialists and begin the rounds of seemingly endless tests if they had a problem conceiving.

Hopefully most of them would end up attending the Prenatal Clinic back in the main building one day. Then eventually, Alice would be there at their sides in the Labor and Delivery suites.

Rose pulled on a clean lab coat and started processing today's donations. Every donor had his own code and a long, detailed file listing his health, family history etc. She saw Bella's point. One day the laws could change and these men could find out exactly who got their sperm and the judge could decide they had rights to their progeny.

And Bella wanted to be a truly single parent to a baby with no father to ever gain any rights.

Rose still thought her idea was the best one but Bella would fret and worry about having sexy times sans condom with a hook up.

She was right about that, but she couldn't have it both ways. A sperm donation from the clinic was guaranteed clean, the men were all screened and tested before they went anywhere near the private little rooms with their Playboys and soft porn videos to give them a 'helping hand'. But there were records.

A random hook up could have any number of diseases.

She carefully checked the latest sample from Donor X21 for motility and the ratio of normal to abnormals, and started the process of storing the sample in the straws that would be deep frozen, awaiting use when a needy lady chose this donor from the books. He was listed as tall, blond, a professional man. Hmm, Rose wondered if he frequented the bar.

They had three donors this week. That was fairly average.

She'd barely finished when a rough looking Angela sailed in and shut the door behind her.

"Here, the last sample from the most handsome donor ever seen in this facility," Angela said, almost hyperventilating. "God, sorry, I mean, from Donor X 27. Shit Rose, you never heard me say that, right?"

"Say what?" Rose laughed, taking the small plastic container and peering at the murky liquid inside.

"So, Angela fancies a donor. Did you go in and help him make this deposit?" Rose joked. "Give him a hand?"

Angela blushed bright red.

"You would have if you could have, right?" Rose teased.

"I'm so hung over. God you missed a great night. Alice and I were dancing on table tops and every man in the bar was gathered around watching us. It was pretty amazing, all that whistling and cheering. I felt like a stripper or something."

"I imagine Alice forget to wear her panties, that always draws attention," Rose joked and Angela's face fell.

"You mean that? Alice goes commando on table dancing nights?"

"Only joking. Alice always spends half an hour choosing the panties du jour."

"Angela," someone called and the girl waved and bolted.

Rose set the container down and started preparing the necessary instruments and her cell buzzed. She usually turned it off while working but she glanced at the screen.

It was Bella.

She answered and sat up on the bench and settled for a chat. She knew Bella was pretty depressed over reaching twenty seven today and no man in sight, and today was a quarter life crisis for her.

"Hello, getting ready for tonight?" Rose asked cheerfully.

"Sure but forget choosing me a random to bring home. I'm not quite that desperate yet. Are you sure you don't give away free samples at work? There must be some sperm donations nobody wants. Couldn't you sneak me out a couple of straws?" she joked.

"Sorry, this place is tighter than Fort Knox. Once the samples are stored away it takes two types of id cards to free them from their icy home and they are always retrieved by Dr Carlisle Cullen and Angela, I would have to take them both down to poach any straws for you. And while I wouldn't mind rolling around on the ground with Dr Carlisle..."

"Rose, you are bad! Just plain naughty. I guess I should start looking at kittens. I mean, a baby or a kitten, no difference, right?"

Rose heard Bella sigh and she encouraged the girl to look forward to tonight. Lots of booze and dancing and maybe some tabletop dancing if Angela was up for it again...

She promised to be at Bella's house soon, seeing her day was almost over and she closed her phone and went back to work.

All that remained to be done was the processing of Donor X27's last sample and she could leave.

Rose frowned.

Donor X27 , whoever he might be, had already provided the clinic with multiple batches, would anyone even miss this latest sample? It hadn't been processed and there was nobody else in here. What if he'd had less than usual to donate? There was no standard amount of semen in a donation. Maybe if she just processed half and took the rest home?

She quickly checked the sperm under the microscope and got half of them ready to freeze and slid the container with the rest inside the bra that housed her larger than average breasts.

Nobody would ever know. It wasn't like the containers were weighed or anything.

She handed today's last batch of straws over to the technician who would freeze them and signed out.

As she drove to Bella's, she bit her lip. This was very wrong and she would be fired instantly if anyone ever knew, but who would tell? Not Bella, that was for sure. And she would immediately wipe the deed from her mind herself. She had no idea of the donor's identity and Angela had said he was good looking. Going on her crush on Ben, that meant a shortish guy with black hair and piercing blue eyes. Angela had a very specific 'type'.

Bella opened the door in her bra and panties with a dress in each hand.

"The little black number or the green? I still don't agree with Alice. I think the green makes me look sickly. Tell me the truth."

"Happy Birthday, Bella," Rose said, kissing her friend's cheek.

"Don't remind me. Twenty fucking seven and still single. It's not exactly something to celebrate. I'm no nearer to my goal of being a Mom before I turn thirty. And prospects are getting worse. Do you really think I should chance a hook up with a random? I decided I am that desperate after all."

"Come upstairs, I bought you a gift," Rose said, locking the front door.

"Rose, you and I turning gay won't get me what I need," Bella laughed.

Rose puled the container from her bra. It was nice and warm, just the way sperm liked to be.

She opened her purse and removed the large single use syringe.

"You can never breathe a word. If this works, then you met some random man and had a little afternoon delight with him before I got here."

"Rose, really? You brought home some left-overs for me?"

"Nope, I caught you in bed with your random, get the story straight right now."

"Oh, right. I'm so embarrassed. Come and help me toss him out and send him on his way. Unless we give him a threesome first?" she joked.

"Forget it, Swan. I don't take sloppy seconds. Lay on your back on the bed and open your legs. And think of England or something."

"Are you sure you want to get that up close and personal to my girlie bits?" Bella grinned.

"I'll keep my eyes averted. Now, pillow under your ass, and stay in position for a couple of hours. I have no idea how long it takes for them to wriggle into the right spot but I guess it's harder than if the original instrument was used to make the delivery. There. Shut your legs and relax and picture one of the swimmers hitting the egg. You are mid cycle, right?'

"Yep, tonight's the night."

"Okay, I'll be back to do your make up and hair and I was never here this afternoon. Got it? Honestly Bella, I could probably go to jail for this. You can never tell anyone."

Rose was already regretting her actions but there was no way anyone would ever know, right? What could happen? Donor X27 would just add one more baby to the world and if his other samples worked as well, it would be one of eleven at the most. Donations from a tiny village like this automatically were send further afield and exchanged with donations from Seattle or even New York. They didn't risk inseminating local women with local sperm in case the progeny ended up at school together and fell in love with one another.

DonorX27 would have no other children here, unless he fathered them himself, the usual way.

And chances were, he was a medical student and it would be some years before he was settled down and producing heirs. All Rose had to do was make sure her Godchild met and married a suitor from afar. Or someone who was definitely the natural child of both his parents.

How many donor babies could there be in a village this size? Bella's could well be the one and only.

X~x~X

Jake pushed the empty gurney back along the corridor. New admittance, man of eighty with a suspected heart attack. He'd been stabilised and admitted and now Jake's shift was almost over.

He snuck outside and puled out his cigarettes. There were no new patients waiting in the ER and he had a moment. A moment of peace and quiet.

Oh shit no.

Cancel that, The Shrieker was here and in full swing.

"You did what?" the grating voice screeched.

"Tanya, it's not like you will ever want a child from me. You've made that very clear."

"That doesn't mean I want your kids popping up all over town."

"That won't happen. The donations are sent far away."

"Why the fuck do men need to have kids? To prove their dicks work?"

"Some of us want to leave a legacy behind when we die," Dr Edward growled.

"I am not standing for this. You get those samples back and have them destroyed or we are done, Edward. I mean it."

Jake grinned. What a woman. Dr Edward was clearly insane, wanting to be with her the rest of his natural life. He hoped the man planned on cheating on this harpy and having himself some fun times on the side. Because there would be very few fun times at home with Ms Denali. Man should try turning gay, it would probably be more fun that being with The Ice Queen.

"Fine, Tanya. By all means, control every single aspect of my life," Edward shouted and Jake hurriedly stubbed out the cigarette and returned to his duties. Dr Edward on the war path was a dangerous enemy. He took his frustration about his fiancee out on everyone in a fifty mile radius.

What the man even saw in the woman was beyond Jake's understanding.

He signed out and made for his car and his cell buzzed.

"Jakey, you coming out with us tonight?" his best friend in the whole world asked.

"You betcha, Bells. I will be there in a sec to hand over your gift then go home and get changed," Jake replied. It was a shame he and Bella couldn't just take that next step and become something but they had been raised almost as brother and sister and it would feel almost incestuous.

"Use the spare key, I'm, uh, resting on my bed. Come on up to my bedroom."

"Uh huh, Bella's pulled. Who was it?" he asked with a laugh.

"Nobody you know. Just a good looking tourist passing through town," she answered."Now, you have better had bought me something awesome."

"You will have to wait and see. I'll be there in ten."

Jake sped down the deserted road and pulled into the Swan residence's driveway. It was still strange not seeing the police cruiser parked there. After seeing Charlie practically every single day since his own birth on the Res, Jake had thought of the man as a second father and his death had left him as bereft as it had Bella.

The last six months had been hard for her and him both. No wonder she was so keen to start a family of her own, even if no man was stepping up to play the role of husband and father.

He wished in a way that he could have done the 'sperm donation' she wanted but with his heritage, it would be obvious to all who the Daddy was and Bella wanted a fatherless child.

Anyway, he planned on getting married and having kids of his own, how awkward if his kids were playing mud pies with their half sibling.

"At least the kid would have been good looking," Jacob laughed to himself. How awesome would his genes have meshed with hers? Bella was oblivious about how beautiful she really was. She compared herself to Rose and came up wanting.

Jake couldn't see for one minute how Bella came to the conclusion the tall blond was so much better looking than she was herself. Jake would choose a girl like Bella over a Rosalie clone any day.

He retrieved the front door key and let himself inside.

Bella was indeed laying on her bed in the bedroom that used to be Charlie's. Now it was unrecognisable.

At first, Bella had refused to consider moving into it, and had kept it as a shrine almost but one day she had called him and the girls and they had stripped the room bare and painted it soft blue with white trim, obliterating the old pale yellow with brown trim decor and she'd had the en suited bathroom ripped out and everything replaced shiny and new.

There was nothing left of Charlie now, and Bella's own small bedroom was already decorated as a nursery. The girl was determined to have half the dream, seeing the usual first half, the boyfriend, fiance, groom had failed to appear and take his role.

"What are you doing lying around with your butt in the air?" Jake asked, tossing the brightly wrapped gift onto the bed, in her reach.

Bella grabbed the present and started ripping off the paper.

"I'm encouraging his swimmers to find my egg, if you have to know."

"I thought most sperm pretty much knew how to do that anyway," Jacob replied.

"Well I'm just helping them along," Bella smiled.

"So, are you sure he will never be back?" Jake checked.

"Absolutely. He was here for a one night stopover and he won't remember this encounter at all, believe me."

"Bella, you didn't roofie him, right?" Jake growled.

"Sort of," Bella shrugged."Maybe. Just know, he will never know about this baby he left behind. I made sure of that."

"Should I be checking the backyard for recently dug earth?" Jake joked.

"Swan, you had better not be in bed with yet another man today, I'm here to pretty you up for tonight," Rose called from downstairs.

"It's just Jake. Come on up," Bella yelled back.

"Hmm, we aren't making sure by using a backup are we?" Rose joked.

"You know what she did?" Jake laughed.

"Know? I walked in on it. Bella in bed with some mysterious hunk of a man going at it like crazy. They barely noticed me there. I turned and ran for the hills, I assure you."

"Yeah, that probably wasn't a pretty sight," Jake agreed.

Bella raised an eyebrow and Rose grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet.

"Shower again and I'll gild the lily. Oh, this is from Alice. She said you will need it to wear tonight."

Bella stood up hesitantly. "Are you sure it's not too soon to stand up?"

"Bella, if his sperm is too stupid to find your egg by now, you don't want a kid from him, believe me."

"I guess you are right."

"I'm out of here," Jake announced, kissing Bella on the cheek. "See you there. The usual bar, right?"

"Where else," Rose replied."We are so spoiled for choice. That bar or...wait, it's the only bar in town."

They heard the front door slam and the VW Rabbit leave.

"Rose, seriously, can you tell me anything about the...man that was in my bed earlier? I didn't see him at all. Do I need to be saying he had nice blond hair or anything? Any outstanding features?"

Rose shrugged.

"Going on information received, I'm thinking, picture someone who looks somewhat like Ben Cheney and work from there."

"It wasn't Ben?" Bella panicked.

"Nooo, he's saving his sperm for Angela, if she ever pulls her head out of her ass and just stops fighting the whole 'I'm so tall and he's so short' thing. It's hardly a reason to not be with the man of her dreams. Their kids will be average height, it stands to reason."

"Or half will be tall and half will be short," Bella suggested.

"Shut up and shower, I have work to do. Magic to perform."

X~x~X

Dr Carlisle Cullen shook his head.

"I told you to tell Tanya before you did the donation," he chided his son.

"I know, I should have listened."

"Edward, are you sure you want your samples destroyed? You don't have to actually do everything that woman asks you to do, you know."

"I do if I want a peaceful life," his son growled.

Carlisle unlocked the door to the storage room and stood back while Angela entered.

"Every vial of Donor X27 please," he said and the technician started opening things and pulling out a series of straws and laying them on the bench.

When he had checked and double checked against the itemized checklist, he nodded.

"Destroy them all. Now."

They all watched as Edward's sperm samples were killed off and the containers trashed.

"Done," Carlisle growled. "Once again, Tanya rules your life. You need to do some serious thinking about whether you want to spend the rest of your life doing her bidding," he warned his son.

Edward ran his fingers through his hair.

His father was right.

It was more habit than anything. They'd dated since High School but it didn't have to mean they had to stay together now. She had waited patiently while he did his medical degree and had remained faithful all those years, and that had made him feel he owed her something.

But the rest of his life?

She'd changed, there was no question. The sweet adoring kid she had been back then had morphed into the demanding, outspoken woman she was today.

Edward walked to his car and decided he needed a single night out, alone, without reporting his whereabouts to her first.

He just needed a drink and a chance to relax and think about his future.

He headed for the only bar in this town.


	2. Chapter 2

The Sperm Donor

Chapter Two

Edward walked in the bar and looked around. He didn't frequent it often but tonight it was a lot more crowded than he'd seen it before and the noise level was quite deafening.

He sat at the bar and ordered a glass of Jack then asked the barman to leave the bottle, seeing it could be quite difficult getting refills as quickly as he would be wanting them.

He noticed Angela Webber arrive and nodded acknowledgement. She had been delayed due to his need to have his sperm destroyed, so he should at least buy her a drink.

Minutes later she came to the bar and stood beside him.

"Um, two SoCo's and Coke, two Jack Daniels neat, four Bacardi and Coke's, some type of ridiculously named cocktail about beaches and sex, and an orange juice please."

"Angela. Here with friends?" he asked. "Or did we work you so hard you need all those drinks for yourself?"

Angela blushed and laughed. "Friends. We have a booth down the back. I hope I remembered everyone's drink. "

She started counting and decided she needed a jug of beer as well in case she had gotten the order wrong.

"Let me pay for them, it's the least I can do after your help today," Edward said, nodding at the bartender.

"Oh, thanks," Angela said, trying to lift the tray. Edward stood and lifted it himself and Angela grabbed his bottle and glass.

"Come sit with us? You know most of us anyway," she invited.

"Why not," Edward decided. Maybe he could spend the fun part with them and do the heavy thinking later. He followed her to a booth in the back and the blond girl moved over to let her sit. Then she looked up and saw him and her mouth gaped a little for a second.

"Well, if it isn't Dr Edward," she smiled and stood up, pushing Angela out of her way then forcing the girl to sit and pushed her in, so she could grab the outside spot and sit beside him.

"Rose Hale," she said, holding out her hand.

Edward took it and frowned. "You work at the hospital, too?" he said, thinking he had seen her there on occasion.

"Yep, I do. Out in the annex. Behind the scenes but we do go to the main building to use the break room."

"Right, that's probably where I've seen you then," he concluded. She was Barbie doll attractive but he had one of those at home already.

He glanced at the others and recognised the little pixie nurse, Alice. She waved and mouthed 'Hi' and he nodded.

The music was so loud it was impossible to hear anyone but your nearest neighbor.

"So, is this a party or just a regular Friday night?" Edward asked Rose.

"It's our friend's birthday. She's out on the dance floor, somewhere. With Jake, actually. The orderly?"

"Oh, right. Jacob Black," Edward confirmed. He turned and scanned the dancers and raised his eyebrows at the girl Jake was with. She was quite breathtakingly beautiful. Small in height and build but all of her was having a good time.

"It's Bella's birthday. Twenty seven," Rose told him.

"A nice age," Edward replied, watching the girl laugh and twirl in Jake's hands.

"Jake's girlfriend?" he asked, suddenly interested in the answer. More interested than any engaged man should be.

"God no, they are sort of siblings by choice. Bff's," Rose answered. She drained her glass and Edward offered his own bottle.

"Thanks. We just got here but some of us manage to consume a much larger amount of alcohol than others the minute they get through the door."

She scowled at Alice, who was laughing loudly at the man beside her, and clearly well on the way to being merry.

"Think about it. At her tiny size, it takes a lot less alcohol to get her there," Edward replied, looking back at the girl with Jacob. The music ended and she was fanning her face with her hand and looking back at the table no doubt seeking a drink.

Her eyes caught his and he smiled at her and watched her grab Jake's hand and drag him back over to the booth.

"Birthday girl needs a drink and a new dance partner," Jake said, squeezing in on the bench opposite Edward.

His dance partner scowled. "Lightweight. It's my birthday, Jakey. Come on, I want to drink, then dance again. All night long."

Rose picked up the glass of orange juice off the tray and handed it to her.

"This had better have lots of Southern Comfort in it," she growled and took a sip.

"Uh uh, your drinking days are on hold," Rose said with a wink.

"Oh, I didn't think of that," the girl replied. "So, who is your friend?" she asked and Edward shot out a hand.

"Edward Cullen. Nice to meet you."

"Oooh, a gentleman. What are you doing with Rose? She doesn't do gentlemen," the girl laughed. "Sorry, I'm Bella. And it's my birthday!" she squealed and threw her hands up.

"Then I should offer to dance with you seeing I stole your seat," Edward replied.

The music started again and Bella pulled him out onto the dancefloor and started throwing her body around to the music. Edward laughed, unco-ordinated didn't start to describe her gyrations but he loved seeing a girl letting loose and having a good time. Tanya would die rather than put on a display like this.

Bella was clearly making it up as she went along, and Edward just kept opposite and copied some of her less wild moves, mirroring them back at her.

"Oh, God, am I that bad?" she leaned in closer to ask him.

"You are adorable. I like seeing people have fun. In my job, it's pretty much doom and gloom all day, I like seeing someone forget everything and just dance like nobody's watching."

"Then you chose the right dance partner," Bella said and started shaking her body harder. Her arms were in the air, hands clasped, and she was doing this slinky move that made her body undulate to the rhythm of the music.

Edward bit his lip and looked away, the sight of her doing this was having an effect he would rather not have. Not here, on display.

Bella leaned in close to his ear. "Is that my birthday present in your pants?" she asked, laughing.

"Um, I'm sort of, you know," he stuttered, wishing he was not sort of, you know.

"Married?" she offered.

"God no. Engaged. Kind of. We are on and off so often it's hard to keep up. I think we are on again at present," he admitted ruefully.

"Pity. I like presents," Bella said and turned her back, moving back so her body rubbed against his, from the spot her back touched his chest to the part where her backside was massaging against him. This was actually the opposite of helping his situation. He grabbed her hips and kept a gap between them so he could calm down.

"No no, no no no no, no no no no, there's no limit," she sang, ignoring his attempts and pushing back against him harder.

"Bella, you need to stop this," he growled in her ear.

She turned and took his hand and pulled him off in the other direction, towards the hallway where the restrooms were located. She frowned at the door to the Ladies and Men's Rooms then smiled as she found another door and pushed it open, pulling him inside, and slamming it behind them.

The room was empty of people, and just held a couple of small sofa's and a coffee table. A couple of vending machines lined the walls but it wasn't snacks she was after.

She pushed him down so he sat on the closest couch and straddled him, moving in the same rhythm as she had been dancing.

"It's not cheating if our clothes stay on," she whispered and ground herself on him. Edward felt himself grow harder and he moaned slightly as she forced a response in his pants. He was harder than he had been in a very long time and she was sending him over the edge.

"I'm on the edge, the edge, the edge, the edge," she sang as the music changed. Edward was pretty much at the very edge himself and he felt her still and cry out and he followed her lead and moved her along his denim clad shaft.

"God, Bella," he yelled and shook as his orgasm hit.

She collapsed against his body, laying her head against his chest and he moved his hands up and placed them on her back.

"Wow," he whispered in her ear.

"Wow," she echoed, and he could feel her heart beating out of control, as his was. She felt different in his arms, softer, warmer, more vulnerable than the woman he was used to. Not that he and Tanya went in for post coital cuddling, or even the coital part much. Things had changed a lot over the last few years. They had once been a real couple, with hope and a future, but now he wasn't sure what they were any more.

And suddenly he didn't really care. It had been years since he held a woman and felt protective and concerned for her, like this. He placed a soft kiss on the top of her head and she looked up into his eyes and smiled at him just as he smiled at her. They sat there for a long moment, just being.

"That was awesome," Bella smiled.

"Thank you, I enjoyed it very much as well."

She sat up suddenly and climbed off him.

"Come on, now we can dance again," she said, walking to the door and opening it. Edward frowned and followed and was relieved to see her turn into the Ladies. He went to the Men's and cleaned himself up and was very glad he was in black jeans with a black on black paisley pattern and uneven dye, so nothing showed, no damp patches.

Bella was waiting in the hallway, swaying to the music when he walked out again and she looked so pretty, so soft and slightly flushed, her cheeks pink and her eyes bright.

"Did you two just fuck?" Angela said, walking past into the Ladies.

Bella laughed. "I wish. Come on, Edward, let's dance again."

He went with her and pulled her in close as the music mercifully changed to a slow beat and he had an excuse to hold her in his arms. She let him hold her close and let him lead, and he smiled down at her and leaned in to kiss her red lips. She tasted like a fine vintage wine and he deepened the kiss before pulling back away.

"Happy Birthday, Bella," he said, rubbing his hands up and down her back.

"Thank you, Edward," she replied, laying her head against his chest. They were surrounded by plenty of other dancers and hidden from sight of anyone from their booth, so he felt somewhat safe and free to enjoy being with her.

"So, do you have a jealous boyfriend who is going to come and rip my head off or anything?" he asked her as their bodies swayed together.

"Nope. If I had a boyfriend, I'd be dancing with him," she answered.

"I guess you would be," he agreed. He tightened his hold on her and breathed in her curiously fresh and pretty aroma. Flowers, vanilla, raindrops.

She smiled and breathed him in and tried to name the scents he emitted. Cinnamon. Seawater? The fresh tang of the forest after rain.

She liked it, whatever it was.

Pity he was sort of engaged.

She wondered where his fiancée was and why an engaged man was out at a bar by himself.

"Okay, the band is going to take a short break," the lead singer announced and Bella jumped away and headed back to the others. Edward didn't know quite what to make of her but he admitted he hadn't had this much fun in many years. Maybe he was entitled to one night off. It wasn't as if he intended cheating on Tanya. Bella had said if they keep their clothes on, it wasn't cheating and he hoped she was right and that his fiancée would see it the same way.

Not that he would be relating any of tonight's partying to her.

The sound of the group singing happy birthday to Bella reached his ears as he caught up with the girl and he put an arm around her shoulders and joined in.

Then it was birthday kisses time and the line up never seemed to end. The girls kissed her cheeks, the men seemed to all feel perfectly entitled to kiss her on the lips but it did mean Edward could as well, just to fit in of course.

His kiss lasted a tad longer than the others, but nobody seemed to notice, though Alice Brandon was grinning knowingly at him. 'Just friends' he shrugged his shoulders and mouthed at her.

"Sure, whatever you say, us too," she agreed and went back to snogging the red headed man at her side.

So they were all pretty casual. Edward had never partied like this, having been Tanya's date from Junior Year in High School. He couldn't claim she was his one and only, there had been a couple of casual hook ups before her, but she had seemed like something more at the time.

He knew the hard years where he studied and attended medical school had been tough on them both and many nights he had slept in the hospital instead of going back to her apartment or his, but he had never cheated.

The truth was, he had been way too tired to think about sex with her, even, most of the time.

Yet she had hung in and waited it out, unlike the girlfriends of most of his fellow students. Girlfriends tended to demand at least a 'hello' and goodbye' each day and sometimes they didn't even get that. The course was exhausting and the residency that followed nothing short of brutal. But it was over now and the first year of him being a 'real doctor' had flown by. Old habits die hard and he knew he had neglected her terribly but the truth was, she was so unsatisfied with their life now it had gotten easier, he was no longer sure she even wanted him.

She felt she owned him, and she had formed very definite ideas about how their lives together would be, without any input from him, and now she felt it was her time and he should just go along with all her decisions.

She'd ruled kids out sometime between High School and college. Back when they first were together, they'd talked about their three children, then Tanya whittled it down to two, then one. Now it seemed even one was too many and she valued her figure too much to risk spoiling it.

And anyway, she certainly had no intention of changing diapers and breastfeeding, just yuk.

She made her feelings known in no uncertain terms and Edward knew his parents were disappointed.

Now big brother Emmett was the only possible source of grandchildren and he wasn't keen. He was still breaking his neck preventing any.

That made Edward wonder if his brother and best friend Jasper Whitlock were here tonight. They always came on Friday and Saturday nights, seeing neither had regular girlfriends at the moment and he worried slightly they may have seen him kissing Bella on the dancefloor.

X~x~X

Emmett McCarty Cullen looked past the little redhead on his lap and smirked at his brother as he kissed the birthday girl, whoever she was. He had seen her in here before with that stunning blond and the little hyper one, but had no clue who any of the three were.

He'd often contemplated asking the blond to dance or at least have a drink with him but he wasn't after a regular relationship and he kind of thought that would be how things turned out if he approached her. She was the living embodiment of his fantasies and just his type, so he stuck to less attractive girls that he had no pangs tossing away in the morning.

No, that was too harsh. All he did was sneak out of their beds and apartments before they woke up in the morning, and lose their cell numbers.

Jasper placed a new tray of drinks down and sat beside him.

"See Edward?" he grinned. Emmett shrugged.

"Nope, I saw nothing. And if I saw nothing, there's nothing I can tell anyone, is there? Did you see him?"

"Nope," Jasper agreed. "But if I did, I would say good for him, having some fun before the Wicked Witch burns him at the stake. She will, you know. If she catches him."

"Tanya is visiting Mommy and Daddy tonight. She came to the house and cried on Esme's shoulder about what a beast Edward is, then decided to teach him a lesson and took off for the night. Pity he hasn't even been home to notice."

"Maybe he won't go home all weekend, that would be hilarious."

"Yeah but we should give him the heads up in case he tells Tanya he did go home but she was asleep and he went into work before she woke up. The fact she wasn't even in the house might give the game away."

"Maybe so," Jasper replied. "She looks nice, doesn't she?"

"Tanya?" Emmett asked, shocked.

"No, the brunette currently attached to your brothers lips," Jasper answered.

"Sure but anyone would look better attached to Edward than Tanya does," Emmett growled."I don't get why he still puts up with her. Remember how she used to be? Before college? Even I almost liked her."

"Yeah, I think the...'you know what' changed her. Made her harder," Jasper replied.

Emmett frowned.

"Oh, the abortion. I forgot about that. I'm sure Edward still has no idea she did that because he would have kicked her out on her ass if he knew."

"Emmett, she didn't have a lot of choices. He was never home, well, clearly he was for one night anyway, but she wasn't ready and he wasn't there. It would have been really hard looking after a baby alone."

"Lots of girls do it. She should have told him. Given him the choice as well. He will find out one day and then the shit really will hit the fan."

"Yeah, maybe we should never talk about it again. No slip ups that way. Sorry for bringing it up."

"I really had forgotten. My nephew or niece would be, what, three now?"

"Yeah. Imagine that. Uncle Emmett."

"Better than Daddy Emmett," his friend laughed.

"Oh yeah, way better," Jasper agreed.

X~x~X

Rose watched Bella on the dancefloor as the night went on. Dr Edward had his hands all over her and she clearly enjoyed it.

Alice slid across the now empty bench and sighed.

"Danny has gone home?" Rose asked.

"Yeah, early start in the morning."

"Are you two getting serious?" Rose questioned her friend.

"God no. It's a laugh. A bit of a giggle. You know that."

"You just seem pretty much into him tonight."

"I'm just wishing I was part of a real couple. Having a little anxiety attack. Bella's not the only one turning twenty seven this year. I expected to be married and maybe even a Mom by now."

"Not me. I think we have a good ten years left in us yet before that happens."

"God, I hope not," Alice cried, laying her head on top of her arms that were on the table top.

"I'm tired of the bullshit already. I just want me a nice man who wants the same things I do. A nice house to live in, a nice car to drive and a pretty baby in a crib."

"And a ring on your finger," Rose sighed.

"Well, that goes without saying. I'm not having a baby without the whole walking down the aisle bit first. I don't agree at all with Bella's life plan. I would rather never be a mother than have a child as a single parent."

"Different strokes for different folks," Rose replied, drinking another drink off the tray. She screwed her face up.

"Crap, Alice, I just drank pure, unadulterated orange juice. Do you think I'll survive? You can't die from drinking a drink with no alcohol, right?"

"I'll never know. I'll keep an eye on you, any symptoms yet?"

"The urge to vomit and drink a large bottle of vodka straight?"

"I meant, new, unusual symptoms, not the same old same old."

"Oh, no, then. My hearts still beating. No sudden migraine or anything. Who knew."

"Bella is having fun despite the no alcohol thing. Maybe we should all give it a whirl."

"Naw," they both decided instantly.

"I'll get new drinks. Double vodka to make up for that last drink?"

"Cheers," Rose replied.

Angela sat down beside her in the seat Alice vacated.

"Alice, could you get me a Bacardi please?" she called and the girl nodded.

"So, you and Ben. When are you going to wake up and get over the whole height thing?" Rose asked.

"It's not that easy. We look kind of weird together and I get the urge to hunch over like some hump backed old lady just to stay the same height as him."

"Grow up, Ange. Either he is the love of your life and you want him flaws and all, or he isn't. You are driving us all crazy with the whole on/off thing. It can't be good for any relationship."

"Do you think Dr Edward and Tanya are off again?" Angela asked.

"Maybe he is just having a night off. Who could blame him?"

"But won't it be hard waking up to Tanya in the morning after spending this whole evening with Bella? At least she's fun and happy. That Ice Queen is always so angry and sour."

"Maybe he will dump her ass and invite Bella out instead. They do look good together."

"Yes, they do. And he's so much taller than she is. He's what, six foot three? And she's five four? See how protective he looks, holding her. God, how many kisses does he think he can get away with just because it's her birthday?"

"She's twenty seven, he can give her one for each year and one to make her grow, like candles on a birthday cake."

"I think they passed twenty seven a while ago. Like, they must be up to her fiftieth birthday by now. Man, he really looks like he knows how to kiss, doesn't he? And Bella isn't fighting him off at all."

Rosalie scoffed. "Really? Would you?"

"I've never had the opportunity," Angela said with regret.

"Now, back to you and Ben. I should warn you, Lauren is thinking Ben would be a great catch and she's even taller than you. She isn't worried about the whole height thing. You had better make up your mind before she seduces him."

"Bitch! I'm going to go protect what's mine," Angela said gruffly.

"You go, girl," Rose encouraged as Angela rushed away.

She glanced in the mirrored wall tiles and saw the large man with the black curls looking at her again. She sighed. Pity he had a redhead on his knee or she would have gone over and asked him to dance. Or something. He looked like he would be rather good at 'something' and there was that dark alley just outside the door.

His friend was all alone. She assessed him critically. Tall, willowy, blond, good looking. What the Hell? She stood and girded her loins and walked to the booth.

"Excuse me, would you care to dance?" she asked the blond. The man with the black curls passed the girl on his lap to his friend and stood up.

"Sure, I was hoping you would ask. I'm Emmett."

"Rosalie. ... Hale." That was it, somehow she had forgotten for a moment. "I was actually talking to your friend..."

"Nah, don't waste your time. He likes brunettes," Emmett told her. "Not me. It's always blond that gets me going."

"What about me?" the redhead growled.

"Oh, sorry, nice meeting you. Have a nice life," Emmett replied as Jasper set the girl onto her feet. The girl huffed and stalked away.

"Jasper, you could have taken her home or something."

"Nope, I like brunettes, remember. So, that little pixie with you. Is she spoken for?" he asked Rose.

"Not in any permanent way. Her name's Alice Brandon and she's almost twenty seven and she likes white picket fences and dogs and country cottages and babies. And vodka. And blond men."

"Oh, right. Blond men? Do I pass as a blond?"

"Oh definitely, she's been eyeing you off for weeks. She thinks you are a bit out of her league. I told her, stuff that, just go for it."

"Why would I be out of her league?" he asked.

"She knows who you are. Dr Jasper Whitlock, psychiatrist. She's a lowly nurse."

Jasper laughed. "You mean, the backbone of the health care system. I look up to nurses, actually."

"Ooh, goody, a match made in Heaven. Go cut in, she's only dancing with Jake. He's just a friend. Like, absolutely nothing more. He'll disappear and let you have her."

"Cheers for the heads up," Jasper answered and walked to the dance floor.

Edward saw him and smiled. "Jasper, how's it going?"

"Fine. I can't see you by the way. Neither can your brother. What happen's in Forks Tavern stays in Fork's Tavern."

"Good, thanks," Edward said, dancing his partner away to the far side.

He was enjoying the night and wished it didn't have to end but already the staff were starting to pack things up. He glanced at the clock and was shocked to see it was almost three am.

"Hey, I really have to go home," he said regretfully to the girl in his arms.

"And that's not an invitation, is it?" she checked.

"Sorry. I don't cheat. Not real, proper cheating, anyway. Tanya and I have some stuff to sort out. I can't say how it will go. I can't even say how I hope it will go. Thanks for tonight, I have had a lot of fun."

"Same here. Come back some Friday night, if things don't work out between you and her."

"Sure. Goodnight, Bella. Happy Birthday. May I kiss you again, for your birthday?"

"Technically my birthday was over three hours ago," she grinned.

"Oh, well, this can be one for luck then."

Bella tried to remain grounded despite the force of his kiss and she hummed a little as he released her.

Jake appeared, grumbling, and Edward passed Bella to him.

"Look after her. She's quite...amazing," he said and turned to go.

"What's up, Jakey Boy?" Bella asked.

"Some Neanderthal just came and poached Alice. And she went off with him. Dumped me on the dance floor, just like that."

"Come on, it's nice she's pulled. She's been pretty quiet lately."

"I guess she sees me like you do. Just friends. The cruelest words in the universe."

"Jakey, we all love you. Now drive me home, and I will make you a coffee."

"Thanks, Bells. Another night wasted," he grumped.

"You don't fancy Alice. You just think she'd be easier to get into bed than Rosalie."

"God, Rosalie and I would never happen. Girl would eat me alive."

"Then you are lucky you have me to protect you. Come on, I'm in my twenty eighth year, get me home before dawn or I may turn into a pumpkin."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Emmett opened one eye and started. Shit, it was lucky he hadn't brought anyone home, his almost sister-in-law was standing right beside his bed in his parents house. He usually lived in an apartment he shared with Jasper Whitlock but Jasper had pulled last night and taken the little zany Alice home to theirs, so he had come here for the night to allow them some first night only, one off privacy. He and Jas did this only if the girl was a potential special case, and it was the first time Jasper had asked for this privilege.

Emmett himself had twice thought he fancied a girl enough to want to explore the possibility of a relationship with a future, but neither had panned out and he'd concluded he wasn't going to meet his One, but now, last night, he'd had a strange feeling about Rosalie Hale.

Strange enough to not insist on going home with her.

He'd secured the promise of a date later in the week and she'd certainly shown the same interest in him, but he was determined not to rush into anything like he tended to. Bull in a china shop, Carlisle called him.

And after a restful sleep full of amazing dreams, he'd woken to this woman instead. It was more his idea of a nightmare, waking to Tanya Denali standing beside his bed!

"Good morning Emmett. I just thought you and I could have a little chat."

Emmett pulled the covers up and held them at chin level. He had no desire for Tanya to see any more of his body than she already had, sneaking in on a sleeping man like that. He didn't believe in pajamas and he frowned at what she may have seen.

Oh well, he was probably better equipped than Edward, so if anything, she was probably wishing she had gone for him instead.

Not that there would have been a chance in Hell of that.

"Chat about what?" Emmett hedged, knowing full well she meant she was about to start the Spanish Inquisition about his brother and last night. Damn, he had suspected that table full of slutty looking chicks were familiar. Tanya's so called Cat Pack. Damned spies.

"What did Edward get up to at the tavern? Before you lie, he was seen with that skanky brunette."

"Oh, was it one of your friends? You seem to know every skank in town," Emmett answered.

"No," she said coldly, keeping her voice even. "I don't know her at all. Nobody knows her name but a few of my friends have seen her at the bar before."

"Never with Edward," Emmett said confidently.

"No, but then, he's never gone there without me before. I don't recognise her from their description, she sounds rather plain and unremarkable. I don't understand why he was with her or what he saw in her. He has me at home, Emmett. I think I rather eclipse most if not all women in this backwater."

Emmett bit his tongue. Jasper appeared at his door just then, saving him having to answer.

"Well, here I am. This had better be life or death, Emm, I was busy. What did you summon me...oh Tanya. Hi."

"Come in. I sent the text from Emmett's phone."

Jasper walked in the room warily and sat on Emmett's bed, searching the man's face for clues.

He assumed Tanya had heard about Edward and Bella and he was not about to offer any evidence against his friend. No matter how many fingernails she pulled off with pliers.

"Just tell me a name. Was it Ella, something like that?"

Jasper screwed up his forehead.

"Ella? Isn't that the new OR nurse?"

"Nah, that's Stella," Emmett answered.

"Shut it, I should have known you two idiots would cover for him."

She stalked from the room and Emmett looked for his cell phone.

"Damn, she must have it. Call him, Jas, and warn him she knows."

Jasper tried to call but the message from voicemail answered.

"It's switched off. He's dead meat."

X~x~X

Edward woke and looked across to Tanya's side of their bed. Empty. Still.

He wondered when she had left, where she had gone and whether she would be back.

He still felt confused and uncertain about what he wanted. On one hand, in many ways he felt a clean break would be best but on the other hand, they had both invested a lot of years in the relationship and both families assumed there would be a wedding. There almost had been one once already.

Just as Edward had started to panic and wanted to find the words to delay that happening, Tanya had instead, stepped in and pulled the plug. Clearly she was as unsure as he was, and he had been relieved at the reprieve. They'd stayed together and papered over all the cracks but never discussed a new date and he was pretty sure that meant she was looking for a way out too.

Maybe she had packed and gone last night.

He got out of bed and checked the closet but as far as he could tell, all her clothes were still hanging there and her drawers were equally full still.

He moved into the kitchen and set the coffee machine going and sat down to wait for the first cup of brew.

He heard the front door slam and walked out to the sitting room.

"Oh, you did come home last night. I called at midnight, and at one am and then again at three and you weren't here," she huffed. "Where were you?"

"I went to the tavern. Emmett and Jasper were there."

No lies, only omissions.

Tanya walked over to Edward and took his hand, pulling them both down on the couch.

"We need to talk."

"We do," he agreed.

"Edward, I've put my heart and soul not to mention years of my life into us. I've waited patiently for years for you to finish your studying and all that and now that we are where we always wanted to be, all I can feel is your discontent. It should be my time, my turn. I don't know what you want any more."

"I think the problem is that we both want different things. Tanya, when we started, we were both on the same page. I had no choice about putting my life on hold until I qualified, but we both wanted the same things at one point. Marriage, three kids, careers, now you have decided you don't want kids, and that's a really major thing to me. I always wanted a family. I have always seen myself as a father and I admit, the whole sperm donor thing was just a reaction because you became so sure you didn't want us to have children. I wanted at least one child to leave behind bearing my name and you took it upon yourself to decide that would never happen for us."

Tanya felt torn. Of course she wanted his child but it was very unlikely to happen and it was better to let him think she had decided not to try than have him wait and hope every month, for years, when in truth, it was probably impossible for her to conceive again.

The abortion had left her damaged and with such a bad infection she had nearly died. He knew nothing of that. She had gone to get things fixed when she was supposedly off on a skiing trip in Alaska. She did intend doing just that but two weeks later than she told him and everyone else. She had figured having the termination, then two weeks recovery would be plenty of time. Then she really would join her friends in Alaska. Three months later she would return and life would continue.

Instead, she spend almost the entire three months battling to live. She'd undergone repeated surgeries, lost one ovary completely, probably left the other so damaged it would never work again. Her uterus had been compromised, even if she did conceive chances were it would rupture and tear apart long before the child was viable.

The doctor had placed a clip on that sole remaining tube to prevent any accidental pregnancies happening, then a month ago, she had been back for a reversal and the news had been devastating. The prediction everything may heal in time had been wrong. Nothing had gotten better, everything had gotten worse.

Now she faced a complete hysterectomy and Edward would know. There were no skiing trips she could conjure up to cover for her this time. She had no doubt Edward would have done the decent thing and still married her if this had happened for any other reason. Were it a malformation from her own beginning in her mother's womb, or a disease or virus, he would have understood and stood by her. But having to admit she terminated his son or daughter because it wasn't the right time would shatter him.

He would never trust her again and he would blame her for their lack of children.

She knew he would have welcomed that baby, the one that led to this tragedy happening now.

"I want us to try and spend some time getting back what we had. We owe that to us. Don't you agree, Edward?"

He shrugged and pulled at his hair, a sure sign he was beyond bothered.

"I guess I do owe you that. But you have to reconsider and think about what I want as well. If you are staying firm on the no children rule, then I can't see us salvaging anything because I am telling you now, I want at least one child, Tanya. I won't change my mind about that. Anything else is negotiable and I'm not even insisting it has to happen right now, but I do think with my twenty eighth birthday looming, we don't have masses of time to delay. I would like to be a father the year I turn thirty at the latest. Will you reconsider or are we wasting time even trying to compromise?"

Tanya could only see one way out. She had to hope in this next six weeks they would become as close as they had been before and that he would come to love her enough to accept that babies couldn't happen.

With both Edward and Carlisle being doctors, she couldn't even fake an infection now, to use as a cover. They would be ordering all sorts of tests and calling in favors from far and wide. Every fertility specialist would be on her case and there was no way they would be inept enough to believe this was something that had just occurred.

They would know, and it wouldn't take Sherlock Holmes to figure out what had gone down and why she was ruined inside.

Edward would know, and that spelled only one thing...disaster.

"I promise to listen to you and try my best to be whatever you need me to be. I won't make any hard and fast rules. If you want us to try and have a baby, we will. If it doesn't happen, then I guess it just wasn't meant to be."

"Why wouldn't it happen? We are young and healthy and in the prime years for baby making. I think we should get married once you have confirmation you are pregnant. We can do this, Tanya and I know I was an absentee lover for a lot of years but I had no options. I won't be an absentee father, I can promise you that. Come off the Pill and let us make a baby. It'll be fun and in nine months time Carlisle will assist me in delivering my very own son or daughter and I promise, it will be the highlight of my life."

"Edward, promise me you didn't sleep with that girl last night," Tanya said quietly.

" What do you mean? I have never been unfaithful."

"Some of my friends were in the Tavern. I know you spent the evening dancing and kissing some girl and I was told you even went into the back room with her and were missing long enough for...things...to have happened between you two."

"Okay, fine. I kissed a girl, and I had fun doing it. We haven't had fun for a long time now, Tanya. I just wanted a taste of the other life and if we can't have some of that life ourselves, maybe we should move on apart."

"Did you have sex with her?" Tanya asked again.

"I swear I have never slept with anyone since we became a proper couple. My number has never increased since the first time we had sex together. I did not sleep with her, I did not take off one single piece of clothing in her presence."

"Then what did you do with her in that room?"

Edward straightened up.

"I guess you call it dry humping. I was turned on by her body when she was dancing and we...brought about one another's release but we didn't touch other than through our clothes. It was still wrong and I apologise. It had been a long time since I even got to do that. I'm used to your rebuffs and refusals and I know it will always have to be your choice whether we have sex or not but my body missed it and she provided a safe and acceptable way for me to gain a release. I wasn't thinking with my brain at that point. I swear her hands never entered my clothing, and no part of me was ever exposed to the air. It was strictly fully clothed humping."

"But you wanted more?"

Edward laughed humorlessly.

"I could have had more. She was willing. I was the one who dictated the terms."

"If I ever find out you lied about this..."Tanya threatened.

"You won't, because I haven't. I've told you everything."

"Promise me you will never see her again."

"I promise. Unless we decide to go our own separate ways, I promise I won't see her again. I don't know anything about her, where she works, where she lives. I swear. Nothing."

"I have a lot of friends, Edward. If you ever go MIA again, I will assume the worst."

"Okay, I deserve that. It won't happen."

"And for now, you can't go out with Emmett and Jasper. I know they saw you and I asked them both this morning and they denied everything."

"I can hardly control my brother and best friend," Edward replied. He did try, mind you.

"And because I cannot trust any of you, I insist you go nowhere without me, apart from work."

Edward nodded his agreement. He had been at fault and clearly was not trustworthy out alone.

The next six weeks were painful at best. Tanya kept reminding Edward of all the sacrifices she had made to keep them together and Edward had agreed, she had been great. Patient, faithful, more than he could have asked of her.

He still needed the baby talk and she deflected every time he raised the topic so finally he sat her down and demanded they discuss it. Tanya had to decide there and then which road to take. The truth or a lie that could delay the truth a while longer.

"It's just a hang up I have about walking down the aisle with a passenger inside. I really want to look my best on the day. Pregnant women are not know to look that stunning with morning sickness and problems sleeping and the changes to their skin and not to mention, some bloat up right away. I want to look perfect for you, Edward. It will be the focal day of our lives. All those people watching me, wishing they were you."

She sighed in contentment. She did enjoy being the most attractive woman in town. There was no competition, not even that Rosalie Hale woman. Tanya snorted at the very idea.

Anyway, after a few months he would start nagging again and she would have to make a show of trying to conceive. She'd Googles it, it could take up to two years for an average healthy couple, she just had to make sure in that period of time, she had him so tightly bound to her that when the terrible discovery happened, as it had to, that he would stay anyway.

The Cullens' had money, a lot of money. As a Cullen she would have access to that money and surely she could find one gynaecologist willing to 'diagnose' her with untreatable infertility and have someone ready to give an identical second opinion. Edward wouldn't want to give up but maybe if she had some horrible condition that meant a pregnancy would kill her, he'd have to accept it and move on. With her, not with that faceless unimportant little skank.

She knew the girl's name now. She should have known she didn't need to ask his halfwit brother and friend, Edward told her himself.

In bed, at night as he slept.

"Bella, Bella, Bella."

Despite all the enquiries she made, and all the skulduggery, like dropping the name around his parents, no-one seemed to know a Bella.

Clearly she was a nobody.

X~x~X

Edward kept his word and made no attempts to find Bella. He would try and work out things with Tanya and only then, if nothing changed and improved, would he call it quits and walk away. Then he strongly suspected he would move into the tavern permanently and take all meals at the bar until Bella walked through that door.

One Friday after he discussed the Tanya situation with his surprisingly understanding father, he had returned to his own office to collect his coat and leave when he overheard Nurse Alice and the 'love of Emmett's life' Rosalie Hale talking.

"It's going to be a blast. You are sure Bella has no idea we are doing this?"

"That is what a surprise party is, Alice. A surprise. She thinks she is coming to mine for dinner and a dvd night huddled on the sofa. Make sure everyone knows to park in the next street over so she isn't alerted by all the cars."

"Gotcha. Do you think we should have invited Edward? It's so hard to know what his status is. Tanya seems to come to the bar most Fridays without him and she never wears her engagement ring. The way she was flirting last Friday night makes me think they aren't together any more."

Edward frowned in surprise. Friday nights were Tanya's gym nights and she attended a women only gym in Port Angeles so he didn't get dragged along to watch. He usually did all his neglected paperwork Friday nights. She must have known her presence would be noticed at the bar. he started to doubt the wisdom of the ban he had placed on his brother and Jasper to never report anything negative to him about Tanya. he had always thought they judged her too harshly and he knew they both knew things about her that he was not willing to hear from them, so many years ago, he'd established the rule. If it wasn't positive, don't bother saying it.

Jasper had tried to break the rule many times, pleading to Edward that he knew something big. Edward knew that meant she may have cheated and his best friend knew but he wanted to hear it from her lips, not his. He had always reminded Jazz of the rule and walked away. Emmett invariably shook his head at these times and told Edward he was a fool and needed to hear what they had to say.

It was his own fault, he had rarely had time to spare for Tanya when he became a resident, if she had slipped up, it was in the past and he trusted her completely. One day she would tearfully admit it and he would forgive her. He already had, these things happened. He knew he was no better himself. He was still unsure why he hadn't just slept with Bella Swan, his dreams were full of them in that back room, only they always went the entire way and made love for hours.

He felt guiltier about the dreams than about the 'schoolyard' sex act itself. Rose's voice brought him back to the present.

"Awkward," she laughed. "I mean, Edward was there the night she conceived. I know he didn't have anything to do with the conception but it's kind of weird when you think about it. She will always remember the exact date she was kissing him because it was the night she started her baby."

Edward inhaled and felt guilty for a moment until he realised nothing they had done could have impregnated anything but his boxer shorts.

So, Bella was pregnant. That changed things, clearly she was taken now. And she'd met the father of her child the same night he had become more than a little captivated by her.

He didn't have any claim on her but he wondered if she was a patient and went to check on the computer. No Bella Swan appeared but his father did have an Isabella Marie Swan aged twenty seven. She had an appointment the next week and by luck, Edward was covering his father's appointments so Carlisle could take Esme away for the entire week on one of their regular 'second honeymoons'.

He looked forward to seeing her again and congratulating her on her pregnancy.

As he approached his car in the staff carpark, he saw Rose and Alice talking together, and Rose turned and waved.

"Hey, Edward, want to come to a party? Emmett and Jazz will be there. It's a surprise baby shower for Bella."

"I don't have a gift or anything," he replied. Tanya did attend yoga classes tonight, he could plead a headache and not go and watch the class. What was good for the goose was good for the gander. If she was having a weekly night out, then he could take one single night surely.

"I happen to know your Mother keeps a stash of emergency gifts, that's where Emmett got his present for Bella from. The party's at my place, do come if you can. I know Bella would love to see you again."

Edward decided to go, if he could. It wasn't like he was planning to hook up with her, she had a man of her own now and a baby on the way. He envied the baby and wondered what a child of hers would look like. Tiny, petite, quite stunning no doubt. Maybe his father would deliver it right here in Forks.

He felt happy for Bella, at least she was getting her dream.

Maybe he would too, one day. Maybe their kids would grow up together and be friends. He just needed Tanya to give in and agree a baby would be amazing and he would at least have that half of his dream.

Tanya passed him at the door, yoga mat in hand.

"You are late. I have to run, what are you planning on doing this evening?" she paused to ask him. Edward decided the truth was better than a lie. She would probably find out anyway.

"I thought I'd head over to Mom's and see..."

"Great, have fun. The new instructor starts tonight and he is supposed to be heavenly. Have to rush, bye."

"Tanya, I'm going to Rose Hale's surprise party for.."

The door slammed closed and he shrugged.

Edward showered and changed then drove to his parents house. His Mom did indeed have a stash of gifts for any occasion and she showed him all the baby items.

Edward chose a yellow teddy bear and a delicate little frock with tiny smocked stitching in yellow, pink and blue. It was more suited to a girl than a boy but it was exquisite and clearly his mother was delighted that he appreciated all the work she had put into making it.

"Is this for the same girl? Emmett's girlfriend's friend?" she asked.

"Mmm, yes, Bella."

"Then take this as well,' she suggested, adding a little set of crochet work baby jacket, bonnet and booties. "It will make a nice going home outfit for the newborn, and Emmett and Rose chose a lacy pattern circular shawl, in the same yarn, so it will all match."

"Thanks, Mom. I'm sure Bella will love it all. She seems like a girl who'd like pretty things."

"And Tanya's letting you go to the shower alone? You are a pretty thing yourself."

He shrugged and his mother laughed.

"Enjoy yourself, I'll never tell." She'd always wanted more for him. Tanya just never made him happy any more and she had the feeling that the writing was already on the wall. The girl seemed to blatantly do whatever she liked, and never consider his feelings or how he would react when he found out she went out to the same bar as Emmett, flaunting her rebellion in front of him.

And Edward would never listen. He seemed to think the entire family had some unfair conspiracy to taint his idealistic idea of Tanya. He would find out one day, she would never allow him to walk into a marriage without all the facts so she and Carlisle would call an intervention if they announced a new wedding date. And unlike last time, when he had walked out before they could speak, she would tie him to a chair and make him listen, if that was what it took. He might still choose her, but at least they would all know he was choosing knowing all the facts.

She sighed. Emmett was so much less complicated. He lived his life openly, with no secrets, and was troubled by little, though she did know he knew something he wanted Edward to know rather badly. Something Tanya had done.

Esme sighed. It was so hard being young today, so much simpler back when she met Carlisle. She would have never dreamed of cheating but she suspected Tanya had done more than just dream about it.

X~x~X

Edward followed the directions in the text from Emmett and arrived at the street next to Rose's and parked his car as ordered.

Despite the loud hushing from Alice, he could hear them all from the street and he walked up and knocked on the front door of the small, pretty house. He frowned at the many blue and pink balloons and the banner across the front door. It did kind of give everyone a clue to what was happening here tonight.

Rose opened the door, and smiled, then turned.

"It's not her, relax. Come in, Edward. Find a hiding spot."

"Is this a good idea? She is pregnant, I don't think multiple people jumping out from behind furniture will be good for her," he worried.

"Who's jumping out from furniture?" Bella asked, walking in the door behind him. He and Rose both jumped. She had come from nowhere.

"Crap, I'm rubbish at surprise parties," Rose moaned, seeing the decorations the boys had put up out here. She should have checked what they were doing earlier and been very specific about what went where.

"Surprise," Jacob Black said, leading the cry and everyone joined in.

"Whoa, so much for a night curled up on the sofa. You do realise I'm in my pajama's, Rose? Thanks for that," she complained.

Edward stood back as she was swept from one set of arms to another, all around the room and gifts were shoved at her from everyone. She flopped down on a sofa and started opening the parcels and all the ladies oohed and aahed over each tiny item.

Edward waited and sat down beside her when all the other gifts were open and the bulk of the guests had moved outside where his brother was manning the Bbq, doing the cookout.

Bella smiled and thanked him as he handed the hastily wrapped gift over.

"Oh my Lord, Edward, this is just adorable," she said, holding the little frock up and he was surprised at the tears.

"What's wrong?"

Bella wiped her eyes. "It's just perfect. The whole outfit. It's like something a proud grandmother would make her first grandbaby. Of course, that would never happen. I'll be lucky if Renee even talks to me after she finds out I'm making her a grandmother at her extreme young age."

"How old is she?" Edward asked.

"Well, her birth certificate says she is 47 but it would take a braver person than I am to deny she is the 37 she claims."

"So, you were born when she was ten?" he laughed.

"Actually, I believe her friends in Florida think I'm still in High School. I believe I'm coming up for my Sweet Sixteen next year."

"Cool, legal," Edward teased. "Is the baby's Dad here? I'd like to meet him."

Bella frowned a little and looked at the ceiling.

"The father is a tourist who was just passing through. He spend an hour or so in my bed and left me something to remember him by. He's about five foot seven with brown to black hair and blue eyes. And he probably likes dinosaurs and geography," she said, before realising she was literally describing Ben Cheney a little too closely.

"Or maybe not. Maybe he likes other things entirely."

Edward looked at her face and put his own head on one side.

"Why are you making this up? You are a really bad liar and you are parroting off something someone told you to say. If you don't want to tell me the truth, then don't. But don't lie."

Bella blinked and looked away.

"He's a stranger. I don't know anything about him."

"Dark alley?" he teased, remembering the alley out the back of the club.

Bella sat still and looked at her hands folded in her lap. "I can't tell anyone or a friend would be in big trouble. I'm sorry. I shouldn't lie but it's what I've told everyone and everyone else believed me."

"Sure they did," Edward assured her, rubbing his hand on her back.

"So, you are raising this baby alone. That's a lot of responsibility."

"Rose and Alice will help. I have my own house and car and my first novel just got published. I have the advance in the bank, I can afford this baby."

"Good," he said, "I guess babies are expensive little things."

"I think the main expense is the loss of income. But I work from home anyway so it's not a problem for me. I can still stay at home while he grows up and starts school if I budget carefully."

"The father should at least be responsible financially," Edward suggested.

"Not possible. I can't explain, really, but it's like I never even met him. Okay? That's all I can say. I don't know him at all, on any level."

"That's kind of sad. Does he even know he's going to be a father?"

"Oh sure. He would be expecting that news. Not that he'll ever know. But yes, what he did do indicated he was one hundred per cent willing to father a child."

"Yet never see it?" Edward puzzled."What sort of man would do that?"

"Clearly not you," Bella replied.

"You want a boy? You said 'he'", he asked.

"I did but this little dress is changing my mind. I want a little girl to dress in this." She held the tiny frock to her cheek and Edward gazed into her eyes as she thought about the coming baby. He could see the love there, waiting, already. Tanya always revealed her feelings when he mentioned the 'b' word as well. Her eyes were filled with panic and fear.

He wished for a single moment that Bella was his wife and the baby was his.

But that wasn't going to happen.

"How do you feel?" he asked her, wondering if she was experiencing morning sickness yet.

"Incredibly lucky and blessed," she replied and Edward couldn't help putting his arms around her and holding her against his chest.

"You deserve this baby. You will be an amazing Mom. I hope this experience is everything you hope it will be."

"Will you be my doctor?' she asked. Edward exhaled. Being her doctor meant he could never be anything more to her.

"I'd rather be your friend. It gets tricky if I'm your physician. My father is a great doctor, you know. He's delivered lots of babies."

"Will you be there too?" she asked and for the first time, he heard a flash of fear and uncertainty in her voice.

"Sure, if you want me to be."

"Do you think I'm some cheap tart?" she asked. "I am having a strangers baby and I did..do that...with you at the bar. You must think I'm some sleazy.."

"Don't. Never talk about my friend that way." he growled."I'm no virgin myself and I can hardly take the high moral ground. I'm the one who is engaged and wants to be with another woman."

"Do you? What's keeping you with Tanya then?"

"History. And I owe her a chance to fix us. So far it's not really working but we have been together since we were seventeen."

"First kiss, first lovers, first everything I imagine," Bella said enviously.

"No, not quite. Let's see. Tenth girl I kissed, third girl I slept with."

"Really? I just thought...How did you know she was your One?"

"She was different back then. Happy, funny, friendly. She changed about...four years ago. She went away on a ski trip and I know something happened. She came back home looking like shit. All skinny and pale and wasted away and so jumpy and sad. Then she gradually got better physically and she became angry and kind of domineering. I think she tries to control me because whatever happened was out of her control."

"Do you think she was raped?" Bella asked.

"That seems the obvious answer but she never reacts when I mention sexual assault. I mean, she doesn't seem to be hiding her feelings, she just doesn't relate. But I can't figure out what else it could be."

"And she changed that much?"

"Completely. I hardly recognise her as my Tanya. The one I loved."

"Don't you love her now?" Bella asked.

"I try to. I know she's the same person, somewhere, deep inside. It's just that I never see that Tanya now. She has a whole new persona and sadly I don't like this one much at all."

"But you are giving her a chance. That's good. Maybe she will revert back."

"I guess stranger things have happened."

"I'm really sorry, for the way I acted at the club. It was my birthday, and I'd finally kissed the dream goodbye and you were there and so dreamy yourself. But it was wrong and all my doing and I apologise. I would never want my daughter to behave in that way."

"It takes two to tango," Edward replied.

"Food for the fat lady," Alice chirped, handing Bella a plate then a second plate to Edward.

"Oh, thanks. That's great," he said, looking at the steak and salad.

He and Bella went to the small kitchen table and sat down together and ate their meals.

Edward took note, she seemed fine. No nausea and she ate everything on her plate. That was good. It seemed so wrong that at the most vital time for a woman to eat well, that she would be struck down by morning sickness. She had the health of her child in her hands but if morning sickness took hold, there was little she could do to fight it.

The guests started leaving after the food was consumed and Bella thanked them all and kissed most of them goodbye. There was only Rose and Alice left, stacking the dishwasher and cleaning up, and Emmett and Jasper who were cleaning the grill and yard.

Alice served hot tea or coffee, not allowing Bella the choice, handing her herbal tea but Edward did get the drink of his choosing. They sat back on the couch and talked about the baby and the importance of Bella keeping every hospital appointment. He promised to do a scan at her appointment and she smiled at that.

"What will it show?" she asked excitedly.

"The heartbeat maybe, but mainly we just need to know the embryo has embedded in the right place."

Bella yawned and covered her mouth. "Sorry, I'm so tired these days."

"And I have to go. I need to be home before Tanya or she will worry," he simplified. He picked up Bella's cell and put in his number. "Call me any time if you need anything or if you are worried about the pregnancy. I know all about pregnant ladies, I can help. Or if you just need some one to talk to."

He didn't hand his own phone to her to reciprocate, that would make it too easy to call her just to hear the sound of her voice.

Bella walked to the door with him as the others came inside through the back entrance.

Edward paused and held Bella's hands in his own.

"I'm glad you are happy. I'm glad you are getting your baby. See you next week," he said, leaning to kiss her lips gently. Just a peck, not a kiss with any meaning. A kiss that was acceptable between friends.

Tanya's hand appeared out of nowhere, slapping loudly across Bella's face and causing her to stumble backwards.

"Skank. Get away from my husband," Tanya screamed and Emmett was there in a flash, pulling her back as Edward automatically put Bella behind his own body and crouched into a defensive pose. As soon as he saw Emmett restraining the attacker, he turned and pulled Bella into his arms and kissed her red cheek.

"Tanya! What the fuck! Bella's pregnant, you can't hit a pregnant woman," he yelled. He handed her to Alice, who led the girl inside, and slammed the door.

"I knew it. I knew you fucked her. Now you get the kid you always wanted! I hate you! I should have kept our baby, I should have let it be born," she sobbed and Edward stood up and looked around, at Tanya's face, at the regretful but unsurprised faces of his brother and best friend.

"What are you talking about? Our baby? Tanya?"

"Um, take her home for this conversation. In fact, I'll drive you both," Emmett said, leading Tanya to her own car. He threw his car keys to Rose.

"I'll come collect my car tomorrow. And my brother's."

"I think maybe I should drive myself and follow you to ours," Edward replied, walking away up the road to his own car and getting inside.

He felt sick, both from the unprovoked and completely out of order attack on Bella and his stomach clenched in fear at what this news had to be. Tanya had killed his child. Somehow, somewhere, she had been pregnant and she had allowed the baby to be destroyed.


	4. Chapter 4

**This is up only because Victoria won't shut up unless I update. God, I'm so glad live in another country so she can't come around and kneecap me. No, it's not as finished or edited as I would like, but anything for a peaceful life! Ha, Vic, I outed you as a nagger. Go sulk!**

The Sperm Donor

Chapter 4

Edward lay on the bed and closed his eyes. He didn't think he would be able to cope with this conversation if he looked at Tanya as she talked, and the anguish in her voice was warning enough that this would be no pretty story.

"You were never there, Edward. You rarely came home. There was nobody for me to turn to for help and it seemed like such a small thing. Just a quick procedure and it would be over, like it had never begun. There was no reason you would have to know. Then the infection set in and the doctors weren't even sure if I'd survive. It was weeks until they could even give me any hope of walking out those doors again."

"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked, devastated.

"Tell you what?" she asked.

"Everything. About the baby, about you wanting to terminate. How could you have done that to us? You knew I wanted a child. You should have told me. I could have deferred the rest of my training. I could have gone into something less arduous. I would have changed our lives if I'd known about it. And did it ever occur to you that I would have wanted to be there while you were dying? What would have happened if you had? There's me, envying you off on a vacation of a lifetime, pissed I couldn't go too, and all that time you were dying in a hospital? So, it could have ended with a phone call. 'Edward, Tanya's dead. She's not been skiing actually, she terminated your baby and died. Good luck with the rest of your life.' I loved you so much back then, you were my life."

"You don't love me any more, do you?" she cried.

"I think we need time apart to think things through at the very least. I need some space away from you right now."

"Edward, I did it for you and I've paid. I will never get to have a baby now. Never. I have to have a hysterectomy. I'm twenty seven and I have to have my uterus cut out."

Edward sat up and put his arm around her. "I'm really sorry, Tanya. I'm sorry I made you feel you couldn't even come and tell me. I'm sorry for the way this has turned out. I'm really sorry that you will never have any babies. And I'm even sorrier that this really has ended us. I can't cope with knowing what you did or having to see you on an up close day to day basis."

"And besides that, you want her. Ella, Bella, whatever her name is. And she is giving you something I can't. Your baby," Tanya cried.

"For the last time, that baby Bella is carrying is **not **mine. We did not exchange bodily fluids. If dry humping could result in a pregnancy, there would be thousands more teenage Moms. Whoever fathered her baby, I swear it was not me. I wasn't drunk, I came straight home alone and left her in the bar with her friends. We did not, ever, indulge in sex, apart from the above clothes humping. You need to accept that fact. That baby is not mine."

Tanya listened and stood up suddenly.

"You wish it was. You do, Edward. I can hear it in your voice. You wish you had fucked her properly and made her pregnant."

"Maybe I do but wishing doesn't make it so. If it was mine, I would be announcing it to the world. I would be telling you how happy I was that someone thinks a child of mine deserves the chance to live. But it isn't mine, Tanya. It's some other lucky bastards who got to be with her and leave part of himself inside her that night."

"Probably that Quileute," Tanya replied. "They are together at the bar all the time, I've seen them."

"When have you been to the bar without me?" Edward asked. testing her.

Tanya blushed. "Some nights when you work late, I go there with the girls."

"Tanya, I have been one hundred per cent honest with you, now you owe me the same favor. Have you remained faithful to me? Have you ever slept with anyone else? Since we got together? I know about the ones before me, I am only interested in since we became a couple."

Tanya turned away and faced the window, looking out on the forest below from the third floor where their apartment loomed above the ground.

"We were on a break. I never cheated on you. There was never anyone else while we were together but sometimes when we were apart, I did date other men."

"And sleep with them."

She nodded. "Why not, you haven't wanted me for years. I could feel the way your feelings changed after the ski trip."

"You changed, Tanya. You never gave me the chance to know the truth or be there for you, despite what you had done. I know you never meant to end our chances entirely. I just wish you had told me and let me fix things. They were fixable back then, before the abortion."

"Unlike now," she said softly.

"Unlike now," Edward agreed. There was no point giving her hope where none existed. They were done.

"Who is moving out, me or you?" she turned and asked. Edward hadn't thought that far ahead but he realised he wouldn't want to stay here, with all the memories of them. He had known there were things wrong and he was guilty of ignoring them rather than talking to her and trying to fix things, and now it was too late.

"You can buy out my half of this place if you want to, we own it equally. Or we could sell it and both have fresh beginnings."

"You are lucky. You have someone else to run to. You'll be living with her in no time."

Edward shook his head.

"Bella and I are friends. There's nothing real between us, yet. I admit I hope there will be, one day but at the moment I need some time alone and I have no intention of rushing straight to another relationship before I get to grieve over the end of this one. We have been together since we were seventeen, that's a long time. Over ten years. It's not going to disappear as if it never existed just because we are separating. I need to find out who I am now, I've always been one half of us. I've never really lived alone. I want to start my life anew without any expectations from anyone else."

"But she will win your heart one day. She already has, I can see it in your eyes."

Edward shrugged. "You know me better than anyone else, you could be right."

He used his two days off to sort and pack and clear out everything he no longer wanted or used, and Emmett and Jasper pitched in between working, so it wasn't too drawn out or traumatic.

Tanya elected to go and stay with her parents for a week so there would be no awkward sleeping arrangements with Edward volunteering to sleep on the too short couch.

He knew the boys couldn't understand why he had stayed as long as he had, when clearly neither he nor Tanya were happy. He tried to explain to them. It was all he knew. He had not been a single man since he was seventeen. It was a scary world out there and there was the chance he would never meet anyone else and the thought of regretting what he had thrown away had always kept him here.

Now he was alone in the big wide world and first thing he needed was a new home. Maybe a house this time? He no longer felt like a young twenty-something looking for the kind of lifestyle Jasper and Emmett had enjoyed all these years. He would not be drinking too much and sleeping around, and catching up on what he had missed. He would be standing back and thinking carefully and making sure the next girl knew what he wanted and wanted the very same things herself. True, he hoped that girl would be Bella Swan but she had already chosen her path in life, as a single Mom with a baby she didn't want to share.

It would be his next challenge.

Be there for her, as a friend, become as close to her as Rose and Alice were, and maybe in time change her mind and show her she could have even more. A proper family, and a man who would happily accept this child she was carrying, as if it was his very own. He felt little jealousy toward the sperm donor, for that's all Bella saw that man as.

Her actions had been a little crazy, he would run the usual tests for all kinds of sexually transmitted diseases and make sure there was no fallout from her sleeping with a man she knew nothing about.

It seemed everyone made mistakes, he just hoped Bella would not be paying a high price for hers, like Tanya had.

That evening Bella called and asked him to come over to her place. He wasn't working and the rest of the packing could wait, so he drove over and looked up at her house. It was nice. Small but charming, well maintained.

Bella invited him in and sat down on her couch.

"So, how can I help? Is anything wrong?" he asked her, sitting beside her.

"The girls want me to get a lodger. They say a pregnant woman shouldn't live alone. Is that true?"

Edward smiled. He had a feeling they were being played here, by 'the girls'.

"It can be safer to have another person in the house in case you fall or need help. You have to limit what weight you carry, like heavy laundry baskets full of wet washing, things like that A man around the house could be handy."

"So, it's not a medical requirement?"

"Not exactly. I would feel better if you had a flatmate."

"Man or woman? Jake might agree to come babysit me for a while only he has that thing going with Leah Clearwater and I kind of don't want to be upstairs in my big lonely bed and have to listen to them down here in the guestroom..."

"Awkward," Edward agreed. "Maybe a single man who is not sleeping around and doesn't have a girlfriend would be better."

"Edward, if I knew one of them, I would probably be dating him."

"I'm moving out of my apartment and looking for lodgings," he replied. The house hunting could wait.

"You'd do that? Move in here with me?"

"Sure. I work pretty regular hours and it might be nice for you to have a doctor in the house. I can keep an eye on your weight gain and eating habits."

"And you wouldn't bring girls back here?"

"Nope, I'm practicing abstinence for a while. Until I get my head together and sort out what to do next. I'm kind of out of step now, having always been part of a couple. It's going to be weird to be single but it's something I know I need to do and adjust to."

"So, it would suit us both. Okay, would you like to rent my guestroom?"

"I would, thank you, Miss Swan."

"When will you move in?"

"I would like to move in next Friday? I have Friday and Saturday off. That gives me five more days to continue packing and cleaning my room and getting all the utilities at the apartment changed into only Tanya's name."

"Okay. I won't be bringing men home either. But I'm not a virgin," she stated.

Edward bit his lip and suppressed a laugh. She was so sweet and funny.

"Bella, you are pregnant. That's kind of a giveaway that you aren't a virgin."

"Sure. That makes sense." she nodded gravely. "You being a doctor would be right on to that."

"Oh, I think anyone over ten would come to the same conclusion," he laughed.

X~x~X

Edward had to hold back from rushing out to greet Bella when her appointment time finally came around. He'd got the earlier patients through nice and fast , efficiently, not rushed, he told himself. He felt he had to make sure she wasn't kept waiting, and if by chance she was early, then he could spend longer than usual with this one special patient.

Finally she arrived, and Edward looked up from her chart and smiled her a greeting as he stood and beckoned her in.

"So, you look great, how are you feeling?" he asked, sitting her own opposite him.

He leaned forward to catch a whiff of her aroma, and smiled as it hit him.

"I'm fine. Is it normal to want to eat all day? I could hardly tear myself away from the kitchen to come here this morning."

"Hmm, maybe I should take you to lunch so I can observe how much you are eating, in the name of medical science and all."

"Oh, okay," she readily agreed.

"So, this is your second visit?" he checked.

"Yes, Dr Cullen, Dr Carlisle did the pregnancy test and told me to come back today for whatever other tests I have to have. Not blood, is it? I hate having blood taken."

"Bella, you did tell me yourself you know nothing about the biological father so I have to assume you know nothing of his sex life? Whether he regularly sleeps with women without a condom?"

"Um, he was tested. Right before that night. He had all the usual screenings and some others for..."

She stopped talking. She had been about to say his sperm had been analysed and found to be abundant and healthy but men about to do a casual hook up probably didn't bother with those tests.

"Bella?" Edward questioned. She decided to bite the bullet. She'd Googled sperm donation, it wasn't hard to find a clinic and buy sperm, so she had decided to admit to doing just that. This whole pretend hook up would mean tests and expenses not even warranted.

"What I tell you is completely confidential, right?"

"Absolutely. If it's relevant it goes on your chart but even so, only my Father and I will probably ever read that. The receptionists and other staff cannot access patient files."

He had the feeling whatever she was about to say, she was worried would get back to Rose and Alice.

"I bought sperm."

"You bought sperm?"

"Mmmm. I bought sperm and had a friend inseminate me with it. The donor had been tested and screened and had highly mobile wrigglers. And it took first try."

"When you say friend, are you referring to a medical practitioner?"

Bella frowned. "Why?"

"I just want to know if it was intracervical insemination, where the donor sperm is placed outside the cervix or intrauterine where it's put straight into the uterus via a tube?"

"The first one. No tubes."

He raised his eyebrows. A do-it-yourself baby. And in all probability either Alice or Rose had helped.

"Well, how long since you have been tested yourself for sexually transmitted diseases?"

"Three years," she answered, blushing.

"Bella, you need to be tested regularly, especially before having a baby. There are some conditions that can't be treated while the woman is pregnant."

"I haven't had sex for three years," she mumbled.

"Sorry?"

"Yeah, so am I. I haven't engaged in any form of sexual intercourse, as your father phrases it, for three years. Not even sex with condoms. No sex. After my last relationship ended, I had all the tests and six months later the follow up tests and then I kind of hit a drought. No sex for another two and half years after the tests were done."

"Okay. So you were responsible, I'm glad to hear that."

"I don't usually dry hump men in bars either, in case you are wondering."

"I'm not. But that's good news, too."

He smiled to himself. Honestly, the men in this town were all blind. He should be offering free eye tests if none of them had set eyes on this woman and not tried to seduce her.

"Okay, come on through and we'll do the scan. Don't be disappointed or worried, at this early stage there may not be a heartbeat though you are completely sure of the only possible date of conception? We could be lucky."

He moved the transducer across her abdomen and blinked in surprise. One nice strong healthy minute heart beat loudly but either there was an echo, or...

He examined the screen closely. Two heart beats but at this stage, taking into account the second heartbeat was gentler, quieter, there was no guarantee it would be twins.

Baby Number One looked excellent, Baby Number Two...who knew? Many times he had seen this situation and much more often than not, the second heartbeat had stopped by the three month scan.

"Right, the baby is lying in a great position, the placenta is high but at the front, nowhere near your cervix. That's good."

"So, it's normal?"

Edward frowned then changed it to a smile. "Everything looks good at this stage. There's not much to see yet and we will know more each scan as the embryo develops."

He decided to let her have the good news and save the bad news, maybe not even ever tell her if the second heart stopped beating before the next scan. It was his call. Carlisle practised his way, and always told every patient everything. Edward didn't see any need to alarm her and make her worry for the next six weeks. Nothing would change the outcome. Either both babies would grow and develop or, more likely the smaller one would die and leave no sign behind at this early stage, of ever having existed.

Any remnants would be swept out at the birth, unnoticed.

He printed out a fuzzy photo of baby number one and handed it to her, and she immediately examined it closely. If she asked,'what's that?' about the second tiny lump behind the larger one, then he would explain but she seemed quite mesmerized by her little jellybean and didn't ask anything. He wiped the gel off her still flat belly and helped her from the table.

The sight of her bare midriff and abdomen didn't affect him but his eyes tried to drift to the soft swell of her breasts beneath the paper gown and he had to remind himself, she was, at this moment, his patient, and deserved to be respected as such.

"Thank you. I'll stick this on the fridge so I can say Good Morning to him every day when I get breakfast," Bella announced.

"It's a 'him' again? Have you changed your mind about a girl?" he asked.

"Not really, I just can't call it, it. That sounds like it isn't a human. I read doctors refer to the mother as 'she' and the baby as 'he' just to distinguish between the two so that's what I'm doing."

"Fair enough. Are you prepared for me moving in tomorrow?"

"Sure. I can sit on my backside all day and watch other people work. It's relaxing."

"Good," he laughed. "I'm glad you will be amused. Emmett and Jasper are helping me so it might turn into an occasion if Alice and Rose get involved."

"They already have plans. They are cooking us all dinner. I ordered mushroom ravioli. God, now my mouth is watering at the thought of it."

"Then get dressed and I will take you to lunch. Any preference to what type of food you would like?"

"Something containing chocolate would be good," she replied.

Edward updated her chart on the computer and closed it then waited for her to reappear.

He informed his receptionist he would be out to lunch and back in an hour and told her to call Dr Newton if necessary while he was out. Mike was around here somewhere, probably flirting with the nurses as usual.

Edward wanted one whole uninterrupted hour with just Bella.

**Ha, see no lemon thanks to VICTORIA! Feel free to leave her a nasty message in your review.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Okay, it's obvious there never was going to be a lemon in the last chapter but they still hate you, Vic.(Don't read the reviews, take my word for it, woman.)BTW:**

Euphoria9

2011-10-04 . chapter 4

I really love how you write, you have the best imagination for creating new stories. As for this mystery Victoria, I say, Cheer's love, I'll buy you a drink for getting us another chappie so quickly. Keep it up love! LOL.

**This offer has been rescinded, Euphoria and I went out last night instead and got blathered. Sorry we forgot to invite you along, Victoria.**

The Sperm Donor

Chapter 5

Bella finished her lunch and sat back, looking pleased and happy again.

Edward finished his own meal and asked for the dessert trolley and watched as his companion looked wide eyed at everything on offer.

"Oh, chocolate mousse, but there's chocolate mudcake as well. Oh, there's chocolate cheesecake too."

He was noticing a pattern.

"The lady would like Chocolate mudcake with chocolate mousse on top and I'll have the chocolate cheesecake, thank you."

Bella grinned and attacked her double dessert enthusiastically. Edward enjoyed seeing a woman who liked her food. Tanya had always been the 'just a salad' type and she had tended to push the food around her plate rather than actually eat it.

He frowned, he had to stop comparing everyone to Tanya. They were over, and done with.

She was nothing more than a friend of sorts, now.

Carlisle had promised to keep track of her surgery and tell Edward once it was over and how Tanya was, but he didn't want to be actively involved himself with keeping abreast with her treatment.

Even though his sperm had all been destroyed, he was glad he had done the donations now, because it meant he had gone through the most rigorous testing for sexually transmitted diseases and while he hoped and prayed Tanya had been sensible and insisted her other lovers had used condoms, he couldn't be sure. She had said they had but then, she knew she couldn't conceive. They had always used condoms as a couple, even though she was on The Pill.

She had insisted and he had complied. Maybe she wanted to know what it felt like to have sex without any barriers with one of the others, who knows?

Anyway, he was free and clear and could start a relationship in time, knowing he was clean.

He still found it hard to believe nobody had caught Bella's eye in three years. That seemed like a waste. She was young and beautiful and sexy and her body certainly kept his on alert.

He only had one single worry about moving into her house. Tanya had informed him many times over the years that he not only talked in bed, but narrated his sex dreams as well.

It hadn't mattered when they were all about her anyway, but he knew he had probably called out Bella's name a few times before they had split up and he was ashamed of that. He had never wanted to be a cheater and despised men who cheated with no conscience but that's what he had done in that back room. He may as well have had real sex because he had betrayed his long time girlfriend and fiancee by not breaking up with her first. He could have and should have said "No" to Bella and walked away.

But he admitted he had enjoyed the release , it had been a long time between drinks, as they say.

He had indulged in more sex than Bella had in the last three years but thinking back, he didn't actually beat her score of Nil by a lot. Tanya had avoided it more than most and he probably had won her over maybe every second month, for a single instance, so he had been pretty damned thirsty himself.

It had been weird, and he knew as a result he had been quite tense and angry often, and had taken it out on the people he worked with, so he must turn over a new leaf and make amends.

He and Jake were cool now, they slapped hands in passing and he enjoyed talking to the lad and finding out about his life with Bella growing up.

He wasn't all that surprised to hear she was a little firecracker, with a short fuse, who liked to run the show and Jake had always been her willing slave. He admitted he had adored her forever and it was just the way their parents had blurred the lines and made the two feel like siblings that had kept him from making a move on her. He could see her beauty and her sexual allure but even when he kissed her on the lips, he felt slightly 'wrong' and knew they could never have done more.

That annoyed him, Edward knew. It must be hard, being pulled in two different directions, wanting someone he couldn't have by his own decision.

Jake seemed happy to see Bella becoming friends with Edward, and being a man, Jake knew what would happen somewhere down the road and was quite glad for them both.

He told Edward Bella had always had the unfortunate knack of dating losers and the last boyfriend, Riley Biers, had been the worst of the lot.

And she had surrendered her virginity to him in a last ditch effort to keep him coming back.

And he had kept coming back. For booty calls, but Bella had deluded herself into thinking he loved her and just couldn't find the time to visit often or stay long. Once he got his thrill, he was outa there and Jake had told her repeatedly Riley was seeing other girls as well.

Bella had weakly defended him, saying they had never agreed on exclusivity, but Jacob knew the man had broken her heart and destroyed her trust and sent her down this road where she had decided a fatherless baby was the answer.

She would be wary of giving her heart again and Edward was saddened to know she had been treated like that and hadn't demanded more.

Tanya had not treated him well either, but at least he hadn't known that.

He kept his resolution to step back and not get involved with Bella, and the two became firm friends in a short time.

Edward cooked breakfast and made her fresh juice to drink each morning, she made lunch and brought it into the hospital to eat with him, and they took turns alternate nights cooking dinner.

Rose and Alice were there at her house at least one night each week, taking over the kitchen and consuming most of the wine before the meal was served, but he enjoyed their company as well, and it meant he always had time with Emmett and Jasper too.

He sat beside Bella at the dining table and looked after her, but they were not a couple.

He was discovering new things about himself, constantly.

He didn't actually like some of the bands whose cd's he had collected, and he knew it had been Tanya who bought them for him. He packed them up and sent them back to her, so she could listen to them and enjoy them herself.

He hated his casual clothing, also chosen by her, and he shopped and tried a few looks before deciding he was just a jeans and t shirt sort of man. He had to dress well for work, so out of work it was casual and comfortable and his closet gradually emptied of his With Tanya wardrobe and was replaced by his After Tanya new style. Flanelette shirts in checks and plaids started creeping in even though Bella called him a cow cocky when he wore them.

He liked her sense of humor and her perky personality. She never seemed to feel down, a problem he had battled with himself, often taking on the problem's of the world onto his own shoulders.

He had misdiagnosed a patient and luckily asked Carlisle for a second opinion and his father had saved his bacon and possibly the patients life, something that ate at Edward's soul for weeks afterwards.

What if he hadn't asked? What if the man had gone home thinking he had a sinus infection when he had early cancer? Edward was grateful Carlisle had saved the day but was constantly berating himself over the error until his father called him in and told him these things happened, then he admitted to Edward a few errors he had made as a newly qualified doctor and told him all he could do was his best. He was only human and he would make mistakes.

That hadn't helped and Edward found himself researching at night, looking for sinister causes for the symptoms other patients presented with. Even when their diagnosis was obvious, he felt the 'what if' creep into his head.

He was reading current medical journals online one night when he heard Bella cry out and he rushed upstairs, worried at what he would find.

She was sitting up in bed, flushed and sweaty, and clearly angry.

"Are you okay?" he asked and she tossed her blankets back and stood up.

"I'm fine, Edward, just fine and dandy!" she spat at him and marched to the bathroom for the umpteenth time that day.

"Have I done something to annoy you?" he asked when she came back and lay on her bed, glaring at him.

"What did you do after work?" she said tensely.

"I washed my car?" he hazarded.

"And what were you wearing?" she barked at him.

"Um, let's see. Black jeans, white vintage tshirt, until the tshirt got wet, then I took it off."

"And did it ever occur to you that you share this house with a sex deprived woman who is eleven weeks pregnant and hasn't seen any action for a long time, in fact, the only action she has had in three and one quarter years is a single dry hump in a room behind a bar?"

"I'm sorry!" he stuttered. "So, you are okay?"

"Sure, Edward, if you call not being able to sleep without dreaming of going out there and ripping your jeans off and having my way with you in the soapy driveway okay, then yes, I am okay," she snarled.

Edward stifled a laugh and shrugged.

"I humbly apologise, in future I will have my car washed at a carwash," he promised.

Bella burst into tears and Edward stepped toward the bed and held out his arms to hug her.

"No," she shrieked, edging away. "Don't hold me, that would be the opposite of helpful."

"I'll make you a cup of tea, it's just your hormones, Bella."

"I don't want a lousy cup of tea, and I am well aware it's my hormones, I am not an idiot. Go away."

Edward sighed and closed her door and went downstairs.

He'd never lived with a pregnant woman before, other than those few weeks with Tanya when he hadn't known, but she had been moody and erratic every cycle so it wasn't surprising he had been oblivious.

He felt for Bella, he had experienced many occasions where his libido had been demanding and his then girlfriend had been unco-operative so he knew how she was feeling but there was nothing he could do to help her.

He boiled the jug and made tea for himself and debated whether to risk taking a cup up to Bella, when she padded downstairs barefooted and sat beside him at the kitchen table.

"I'm sorry. Clearly my rampant hormones are fucking with my brain," she apologised.

"It's fine, I didn't take it personally."

"So, you are a doctor, you must get pregnant women asking you how to handle this stage. I assume it's just a stage?" she said hopefully.

"There are definitely stages in pregnancy where your desires will be greater than normal and many husbands appreciate those stages," he replied.

"And the single women? Do you give them medication because I want some."

"No, Bella, there is nothing I can prescribe. It would be counter productive to take anything that changed your hormones. They are keeping you pregnant."

"Can I ask another question then? An embarrassing personal one?"

"Sure," he said, sitting back.

"Is it safe to use...um...toys. Sex toys? While pregnant?"

"Nobody has ever asked me that before. I would think so long as they aren't invasive it would be okay. Nothing that inserts inside anywhere."

"Will you come with me to a shop and help me choose some suitable non invasive things then?"

"Don't you have anything safe?" he asked.

"I don't have anything at all. I've never resorted to plastic whatever they are called."

"I guess we could Google and see what types are best, I have no knowledge of them myself. Bella, you do have fingers, there's no reason you have to buy anything."

She shook her head.

"Nope. You weren't raised by my crazy mother. She told me for the first seven years of my life on a daily basis that touching yourself made you blind, and was was dirty and vile and a ticket straight to Hell. I've never managed to do that, if I try I can hear her voice in my head and you really can't get into that type of activity with your Mom's voice inside your head."

"No, I'm sure you can't. Okay, we can go shopping, I have tomorrow off anyway. We'll have to go to Port Angeles."

"Thank you I guess I'll go read a book or something."

"Goodnight, Bella. Don't read anything erotic, would be my suggestion."

"Right. Noted," she replied.

He watched her flip through the books in the bookcase and finally hold up an old book titled Quileute Legends.

"I think this would be the only non erotic book I own. All I buy it would seem is housewife porn. Mills and Boon, that sort of thing. Romance novels."

"Do they have sex in them?" Edward asked in surprise. Esme was always reading them.

"Oh yes, very naughty bad hot sex with long haired strangers who end up falling madly in love with you."

"Really? Interesting."

She went back upstairs and Edward checked the books out himself. The blurb on the back covers was quite promising and he headed off to his own bed with a story of a woman in love with two men, and her journey to choose which one she really wanted. He hoped it took her a while to decide and she that she did a very thorough job trying them both out. Maybe both at the same time? That could be interesting.

He fell asleep just as Vanessa was falling for the sultry voice of Orlando, and woke to the sound of Bella pacing the bedroom floor upstairs.

He glanced at the time, three am, and wondered if he should just get over himself and help her out. They were friends, they had helped out one another before and the poor girl was suffering.

He checked that he still smelt good since his shower earlier and went upstairs, quietly tapping on her door.

"Bella, can we talk?" he asked.

She opened her door and looked surprised to find him there.

"Bella, I was wondering if you wanted me to...help you with your problem? I have fingers and I bet your mother never warned you about avoiding my fingers touching you."

She frowned and sat down on her bed.

"So, we'd be friends with benefits that don't actually fuck like fuckbuddies?"

"I guess so. It's just a thought. You can say no."

"Actually I don't think I can say no. Not if I want to get any sleep."

"It can just be a one off thing, like the bar episode."

She nodded and he walked to her bed and lay her down then crawled into bed beside her.

"Can we kiss?" she asked and Edward agreed, they could kiss. The kiss removed any signs of awkwardness and she was sighing and breathing heavily by the third kiss and he stroked her body under her nightgown and rubbed her mound, bare and smooth, recently waxed. She must like it that way seeing she didn't do it for a boyfriend's benefit.

He slipped a finger along inside the folds of skin to see if he needed to go get his lube but she was wet and slick against his finger so he stroked and explored her secret places with his hand.

She reacted instantly, opening her legs, thrusting against his hand and he felt his body respond and his pants became uncomfortable.

He adjusted himself with his other hand and felt her hand reach for him and she slid it inside his boxers and took hold and stroked him as well. He should refuse, it would be the right thing to...

He moaned as she found the tip of his erection and smoothed the pre cum with her thumb and sent a jolt through his entire body.

It had been too long, and his own hand was somewhat unsatisfying. He had barely even touched himself as a teenager, there had always been girls willing to help him with that little exercise and he had never refused their offers. He'd only slept with two girls before Tanya and neither had been more than briefly special to him but he had enjoyed what they were willing to do to him just as he had enjoyed the handjobs and blowjobs the girls he had dated previously had done.

He'd touched them back and it wasn't a big deal touching Bella that same way, he reasoned.

His kisses became more desperate and he moved over her body, hovering above her. Suddenly she rubbed him against herself and he forgot everything, every resolve and pushed inside her, placing his redundant hand on her hip and the other under her backside and he pulled her up closer and pumped inside, moaning her name and nuzzling her neck.

Bella arched and pushed herself closer and cried out in pleasure, and it only made him harder and he forgot everything but the need to release.

She forced him to plunge inside harder and faster and he readily complied, and suddenly she screamed and stilled and then fell back, and he gladly let go himself and completed inside her.

The remorse hit as he withdrew and he wondered whether he should just go or whether staying would be better.

Bella was curling up, smiling, happy, her tension relieved, and he curled behind her and lay close, putting his arms around her small body and kissing her neck.

She sighed contentedly. She clearly wasn't bothered herself at what they had impulsively done. He lay awake for hours as she slept and he regretted how it had happened, not so much the fact that it had.

He had wanted their first time to be special and meaningful and he had not intended going inside her at all tonight, he had entered that bedroom with only the idea he would use his fingers and there would be nothing in it for him.

He'd wanted to wait until he loved her, and she him, hopefully, and now he felt like they had settled for the very thing he had been avoiding.

Fuckbuddies.

When he awoke Bella was smiling at him and stroking his morning wood, clearly up for a repeat performance, and Edward surrendered, it was too late now. They had done this before, and no doubt, they would be doing it again.

He understood her need and desperation and knew she was thinking with her hormones but he had no such excuse and as he pounded into her very willing body, he couldn't help feeling he was letting both himself and her down.

This was not what he wanted.

But he was doing it anyway.

Bella rolled away as he withdrew and, she rose and went into the shower and Edward lay flat on his back and sighed. He enjoyed her body but there was little connection between them and he wanted more, so much more.

This was lust, he wanted love.

X~x~X


	6. Chapter 6

**Yeah, I've finished Monday's work and guess who didn't turn up today? While The Damian's away, the mouse will write fanfic. (Unedited, will edit tomorrow)**

The Sperm Donor

Chapter 6

Avoiding Bella proved to be tricky, there were only so many nights Edward could persuade his father to put him on the 2pm until midnight shift and even then, she was often awake and pacing the floor when he got home. Some nights he managed to stealthily sneak into his own bed and fake sleep the instant his head hit the pillow. Other nights she was walking down the staircase or sitting in the kitchen so it was impossible to ignore her and not say something.

Usually he yawned an exaggerated yawn and complained how tired he was, so very very tired, almost asleep in fact and she would just say Goodnight and turn away. He felt weak and horrible but he had to change things and not allow the sex for sex's sake happen again between them.

He decided to at least do that shopping for her and as he skulked around, looking at things he could not imagine anyone ever buying and using in the sex shop, he heard the unmistakable sound of the three women as Rose explained the use of each gadget to the other two. He risked a peek over the shelves in his aisle and grinned as Alice piled item after item into the handbasket after Rose's shining endorsements.  
>"Oh, you have to have one of these. I tell you, I have spent many a lonely night with mine. I call him Max, because he gives me maximum pleasure. Or he did, before Emmett. That man has made a lot of things redundant."<p>

"It says these can be lots of fun used by couples. Oooh look, you can do this to your man," Alice said, showing the other girls the package.

"Gross," Bella replied, nervously picking up a box and reading what the contents inside was.

"That's a strap on, you don't require one of those," Rose announced, taking from her friend and replacing it on the shelf.

"Is there anything in this entire shop that you haven't had personal experience using?" Bella asked.

Rose wrinkled her forehead and thought.  
>"Well, there is the Men Only section, clearly I have never bought a lot from there," she replied, smiling as she discovered another 'old friend'.<p>

"Bella, this is Mr Wigglesworth, you want one."

"Is it...you know. Edward said I had to choose things that didn't..." she gestured with her hands.

"Oh, right, nothing you stick inside," Rose announced loudly and Bella cringed. "That spoils things a bit. Alice, put that back, and that, and that as well, and that box there, and the blue thing... Geez, girl, maybe we should just pool our money and hire you a masseuse and he can finger you.."

"Oh Dear God, please let me die right now and go to Heaven," Bella muttered, distancing herself from her friends. If you could call them that.

"Oh my God, Rose, what on earth is this?" Alice asked and Rose turned and focused all her attention on the tiny brunette.

"Oh, that is Heaven in a plastic cover. Get two. You will wear the first one out in a week, you will not be able to put the damn thing down. And see, it's small and discrete, you can take it to work in your purse."

"Oh God, I would never do that. At work?" Alice exclaimed.

"You will. You won't be able to concentrate unless you go play with him each hour on the hour. It's that good," Rose promised.

Bella snuck away and shuddered at the pictures on some of the boxes and as she turned the corner, she bumped right into someone else who was skulking as well.

"Edward!" she said in surprise, delighted to find him not working or sleeping for once.

Then she remembered where they were and blushed scarlet as she backed away.

"Oh shit, sorry, is this the men's section? Don't show me anything," she pleaded, covering her eyes. "I don't want to know what devices men buy to...you know."

"I was actually shopping for some safe toys for you. What do you think?" he asked, offering his own shopping basket for her to inspect.

Bella shrugged and picked up one package after another.

"Edward, I'm so sorry. For what I did. What I made you do. I just forgot and got carried away and suddenly it just seemed okay to do that and I know you hated it and never want to touch me again..."

"Bella, it's okay," he assured her, pulling her into his arms and kissing the top of her head. "It's not that I regret it as such, or don't want to do it again, I assure you. I would love to do that again, in the right circumstances. Would you consider coming out on a date with me?"

"Oh. A date? I don't really date..I mean, I did this because I don't date," she explained, waving at her gently rounded abdomen.

"But you could try dating again. Don't you think it would be nice to have a man around? Maybe a partner, in time? To help with the babies?"

The look on her face revealed she really did have no idea and he had just told her something Carlisle had yet to reveal. God, that meant the second twin was dead.

His father would have revealed the second heartbeat at her three month scan had it been there still.

"Babies?" Bella echoed. She shook her head. "No, baby, you mean baby."

"I did," Edward apologised. "I was confused, thinking about all the patients we have had in lately with twins. The water here must have something in it."

"But I only have one baby?" she queried.

Edward took her hand. "Come home with me and let me explain. We need that scan photo off the fridge. And the later ones Carlisle has given you, I assume."

"He hasn't done a second scan, actually. The machine is being fixed and he said there was no hurry, I was going well and no reason to panic. Is there, Edward? Is there a reason to panic?" she asked, her eyes begging for a negative answer from him.

"I'm sure Dad is right and everything is okay, love. I just want to talk to you about a little irregularity I spotted, but it will have resolved by now. It's nothing to fear, Bella. I saw the machine being tested this afternoon before I left, we can go do your scan now if you want."

"I do want," she replied.

Edward walked out near the counter and waved to Rose and Alice. "I'm taking Bella home, see you girls later," he called and took her to his car.

Bella didn't speak all the way back to the hospital but she rubbed her belly and gazed out of the window and he regretted so much not explaining it all from the start. Better this way, now. He would get a nice clear image of the baby and show her all his limbs and his little face and then explain about the other twin who had been there so briefly. Carlisle would have detected a second heartbeat by now.

He held her hand as he walked inside the hospital and asked the nurse on duty to assist, and he took Bella to the Imaging Room and helped her up onto the table. He peeled back her sweater and eased her maternity jeans down lower, to her mound almost and swallowed at the hint of naked flesh despite himself.

Who knew how much he would miss being allowed to touch and...

He had to be professional and it had been his own decision to not indulge in further sexcapades with her. His hand lightly palmed her mound as he forgot to concentrate and he was grateful the nurse had her back to them.

"Sorry, God, sorry," he mouthed and Bella bit her lip and looked confused as he hastily pulled his hands away.

The nurse turned and covered Bella's belly with gel and he started the scan and smiled with relief when two little heartbeats registered immediately. Both seemed strong, and regular and he hoped she would be one of the lucky ones who got to keep two babies from a twin pregnancy. Most women did these days, the odds improved every year. He despised medical reduction of one twin and refused to participate in abortions at all, quietly referring on patients with that desire, and recommending they attend a lot of counselling beforehand to be really sure this was what they really wanted.

He had lost his first child through no fault nor choice of his own and he hated hearing the reasons given for why 'now was not a good time'. Financial reasons were the worst, some couples just could not afford yet another baby and those were the ones that affected him the most. He wanted to offer money to the mother and beg her to think about adoption, an alternative few chose.

Better just a quick fix, and it was over and done, as if it never existed. But they did exist, for a little while at least.

"Bella, look. Two babies. Twin number one is slightly larger, but that happens. They have separate sacs and placentas so they could be non identical. Here's the second twin. I didn't tell you the first scan because the second heartbeat was not that strong and many times, it just stops, but these two both look good."

She burst into loud, shuddering sobs and Edward stopped and turned to her.

"You will manage. It will be hard work but I can help you. I can cut down my hours and do the night feedings, it won't be that bad."

Bela reached out a hand and he took it and rubbed her knuckles.

"It won't be bad, I'm not crying because I'm scared. I'm crying because I can't believe how lucky I am," she explained.

Edward smiled and asked the nurse to print off some of the images, and he stood beside Bella, holding her gaze and just smiling. His heart swelled and beat unsteadily and he had to breathe in deeply, deliberately, to keep his heartbeat normal. It was in that precise moment he knew he loved her.

Really.

Deeply, longingly, desperately.

It felt like these babies were his babies, in every way but the DNA factor, and he knew without a single doubt he would be there for her if she let him, and he would love these little babies as much as he would have loved his own, had that baby lived.

He accepted the prints the nurse offered and helped Bella down after wiping her belly, avoiding her lowest regions, handing her a papertowel to clean herself so he wasn't tempted to linger and fantasize as he cleaned her there.

The image of that naked mound, the memory of how it had felt touching it, pushing against it, being inside her that night and morning...

He drove her home and this time he offered no resistance as she begged him with her eyes to accompany her to her bedroom.

He couldn't do it, he couldn't wait all that time, up all those stairs. He opened his own bedroom door and stood back, giving her the choice of whether to enter or not. Bella smiled hesitantly, hopefully and walked inside and he gently held her in his arms and kissed away the doubt in her eyes. She wasn't sure what was happening, so he had to make it clear things were different now.

"I love you, Bella Swan," he admitted and her eyes widened. "Would you do me the extreme honor of coming into my bed with me and making love for the very first time? I know we have fucked before, but this will be different, I promise you that."

"Um, sure," she replied.

"Bella, I know you don't love me yet but please believe me, you will. I will make you. I will dazzle you and make you want me as much as I want you."

"I want you very much already," she replied, pulling at his jeans and belt and undoing the buckle.

"I know you do," he smirked, his eyes half closed and heavy lidded. "But I need to make you love me," he stated, nuzzling her long, slim throat and biting the skin gently between his teeth as he struggled to remain in control and not just rip her clothes from her body.

"She's pregnant, take care, don't hurt her," he reminded himself as he gently removed her top, then the bulky maternity bra that hid her soft breasts from his hands, then he slid her jeans away and the panties underneath with them, and she stood bare before him.

He threw off his own clothes and pulled her into his body and held her close and breathed her in.

"I think I must have fallen in love with you a while ago but it's only become really obvious today. I want to be here for you, Bella. I want to be the father of those babies. I know you don't love me yet but you will."

"Who says I don't love you yet? Since when have you been a mind reader because you suck at it. I have had a crush on you for ages and I realised I loved you that night, in the back room of the bar. I knew you didn't love me but I was determined to experience making love with you. It took time but when the opportunity arose, I took it. It wasn't fucking to me, Edward. You are the one who needed to catch up, not me."

Edward felt his heart melt and his dick harden even more than it was already and he gently pushed her thighs open and brushed his erection along her folds as one hand caressed her mound. He loved that mound, maybe even more than the two full breasts that had changed and increased in size since he last touched them.

He bent his head and carefully licked her nipples, one after the other, and held his other hand in the small of her back. She closed her eyes and moaned quietly and he dropped to his knees and opened her legs wider, licking and palming her, and she reached for his hair and ran her fingers through it as he tasted her and licked at her core. So wet already, so needy of his love.

He licked her in long, slow strokes that almost sent her insane and she rocked and sighed and babbled under her breath. Her words were disjointed and wrong and made little sense but he got the message. She loved this. She wanted him to suck and lick and eat her out. She wanted to surrender her sweet juices to his eager mouth and come on his tongue but for now, she just rocked slowly and let it build up gradually and he swallowed as her dampness increased.

"Bella, Baby, come for me," he chanted, slipping in a single finger, stroking that soft spongey place inside as he went back to sucking on her nerve center like it was the very source of life itself, and made her moan.

"Come in my mouth, let me drink you," he cried softly, the desperation clear in his voice. His cock was so hard it hurt, and he reached down and stroked it as he licked and sucked on her.

He had to come the first time, outside her body or he would plunge and thrust too hard, too desperately and maybe hurt her.

He looked up and saw Bella was watching him, or rather them, reflected in his full length mirror, and she was loving every second of the sight and the sensations.

She licked her mouth and placed her own finger inside her lips and sucked on that finger, opening her mouth, rolling her tongue around the fingertip and she sent him so close to over the edge and he pumped himself roughly, full of need and want and desperation to release.

"Fuck me, fuck me," he cried and went back to licking and sucking as he grabbed and stroked harder and she released in a rush of liquid, and he knew he had done it just right and made her ejaculate rather like he was doing himself as his semen burst forth and soaked her legs and feet.

Female ejaculation, not the myth so many people thought, he had just induced it in Bella and she was possibly unaware of what exactly had just happened and what her body was capable of.

So this was what it was like for girls, when they sucked off their men. Flood after flood of pure ambrosia. He swallowed and swallowed again and licked her clean when she stopped releasing into his mouth.

"That seemed like a lot," Bella gasped, worried.

"It was a lot. You gave me everything, and you loved it, didn't you?" he asked.

Bella nodded. "It felt different. Like it came from everywhere at once."

"It did and we will do that again, often. It feels amazing, doesn't it? It's just your body releasing at it's peak of complete sexual fulfilment."

"How the fuck did Tanya ever let you go? I hope you realise now I know you can do that to me, I will never allow you to leave me."

Edward grinned ruefully. The few times he had convinced Tanya to relax and trust him and know the medical training did have some amazing benefits and had revealed to him various techniques, she had panicked and convinced herself she was about to lose bladder control, instead of just letting her body become completely involved like Bella had.

That was such a difference. Bella trusted him to only do safe and wonderful things to her, and Tanya had always feared what he could do. She had always needed to be in control, in the driver's seat instead of allowing pleasure like this to roll through her and she had never liked him tasting her.

He had to fight her for the privilege and she had only ever given in grudgingly on his birthdays, even though he wanted to do it for her, he wanted her to know many types of pleasure. To her, it had seemed unhealthy and unnatural that he even wanted to put his mouth down there. She had remained rigid and tense until he gave up. She had snapped her thighs back together so fast she had risked giving him whiplash so in the end, he gave up. He even pretended he believed she was sucking him off when she faked it with her hand and smacked her lips together for sound effects after blindfolding him.

Silly him. The first time she put the blindfold on him, he had assumed she needed it to free herself to be a little more naughty than usual, not as a prop to get her out of yet another unsavory chore.

Bella's soft voice snapped his mind back to the here and now.

"Edward, you could take advantage of the extra lubrication," she suggested and he stood and held her tightly as he pushed himself inside her and watched her face as he stroked inside and out, in again, gently, patiently, not allowing himself to explode until she did. He pushed in harder and felt his seed enter her, needlessly, uselessly, that chore already taken care of by some donor.

He stilled.

She was done, he was done, they could talk now.

"Bella, how much did the sperm cost you?" he asked.

"Um, standard ICI unwashed vial of donor sperm costs $300, washed $400, premium $500," she recited.

"So, which did you buy?" he asked.

"Um, premium?" she answered but it sounded more like a guess.

"And that was after the costs of photo matching and finding the most suited donor for you," he stated.

"Oh, yes, of course."

"So, what does the father look like? Is he like you? Brunette, brown eyed? So the babies will most likely be that colouring too."

"Oh, they said there was no guarantee but probably. I mean, there are so many factors, and recessive genes and things. They will have brown hair and they could have blue eyes, I guess," she replied.

She racked her brain, she had taken so little interest in Ben Cheney, and only registered short, dark haired, glasses. If the donor looked like him, then the baby may well too.

In this moment she wished she had seen him naked, not something she had ever considered before. How much alike was Ben to the donor? God, Rose had better mean the two men were alike in looks, not personality. If she pushed out a pair of blond haired blue eyed babies, Edward would be wanting to hold the sperm bank accountable.

"What qualities did you ask for? In looks," he pushed.

"Just the most beautiful man donor available," she answered, having heard a drunken Angela recently rave about the donor that Rose had clearly robbed, going by the look of guilt and consternation on her face.

"And tell me what type of beauty appeals to you," he asked her.

Bella shrugged.

"Beautiful, he is beautiful, Edward. That's all I know."

"And where does he live? They must have told you where he lives so you can be aware he may have offspring there in his home town, in case you ever move there."

"Oh, I think I've forgotten."

"How did you unfreeze the sample, if you inseminated at home?"

"Oh no, it was fresh, not frozen. He must live here in Forks," she answered, unaware of how that would never happen.

"You had a fresh donation? Not in cryo frozen straws? How was it inseminated?"

"With a syringe. No needle, just the plastic part."

"Do you have a donor code by any chance?" he asked. The thought in his head was settling and becoming clearer. Rose or Alice had 'acquired' the sperm for Bella. There was no way any sperm bank handed over a fresh deposit to home inseminate like that, in a village this size in particular.

Where had it come from? A friend who didn't mind filling a plastic container? Or had Rose helped herself to a sample before processing?

Who else had been donating when he had? There were several men who reappeared some days he was there.

It couldn't have been his sperm. It was all destroyed.

In front of him.

The last deposit had been...that very day. One of those men he had passed in the hallway was most likely the father of Bella's twins. And he lived here in Forks. And if the babies took after him and held a strong resemblance, the man himself might add up one and one and know these babies were his.

She hadn't thought this through. Rose should have had more sense.

What if the father turned up and demanded equal rights to his children?

Maybe he should convince Bella to change her unbelievable story to a more probable version.

"Bella, I want you to admit to the world in general that you and I did sleep together that night at the club. I want to claim ownership of these twins. It doesn't matter what they look like, so long as they are not Jacob's. They aren't, right?"

"No, they aren't. He was willing but we talked it through and decided it was too close to home."

"Then I can assure you, Esme will think of some distant relative who the babies are the spitting image of. She will do that."

"Why do you want them to be thought of as yours? That's like saying you cheated, really cheated, on Tanya."

"Bella, if Rose stole sperm for you from a donor here in Forks, the babies may look just like him. He may recognise them if he has any standout features. You know nothing about him, do you?"

Bella had blushed red so he knew he was right. Rose had stolen for Bella.

"Angela said he was the most beautiful donor this town ever had."

Edward frowned and tried to recall the faces of the men he had deliberately not looked at fully.

Nobody stood face to face or paid close attention to anyone in a sperm donation clinic. It was like making eye contact in the Men's Room. You just didn't do that.

"So that's why you assume he looks like Ben Cheney?"

Bella shrugged. "She has always been hot for him."

"But one night at the club she said Justin Timberlake was beautiful and no offence to Ben but there is no resemblance between them."

X~x~X~x~X~x~X~x~X~x

**Please, if you are a doctor or sperm bank employee or just know everything, don't be correcting my FICTIONAL details, I never pretend what I write is fact based.**

**I am currently reading; The Other Swan Twin by Smiley-Faced-Reviews-Only**

We need to encourage writers who are starting to come back here, to stay, even if we have lost their old stories they deleted when they left.


	7. Chapter 7

**Let's all wish Damian a 'speedy' recovery from his flu. It's so difficult to find things to do to fill my days when he is away and not barking orders at me. Tho of course we do want him properly recovered, maybe a week off at home in his bed would be good? I pity his wife, he thinks he runs the world. We call him "God" at work.**

**I guess there's no alternative than to keep updating.**

The Sperm Donor

Chapter 7

"So, now you did sleep with Bella? And you are the father of the twins? How did this turnabout happen? Why are you admitting it now after months of denying you did anything that could have ended in pregnancy?" Carlisle questioned his son.

"Dad, I think...I believe the father lives in Forks and if that is the case, we will spend our entire lives looking over our shoulders, scanning faces, looking for similarities. We will never know if he will recognise his children. I need everyone to assume they are mine, so that's the story. I'm a louse and a cheater and I betrayed Tanya. I mean, I did in my heart, anyway, why not admit to physical betrayal as well?"

"And you hope everyone will swallow the new story and blame you for her condition?"

"Sure, I can look guilty and ashamed for a week or two then we can decide to 'make the best of things' and who will know differently?"

"Edward, there is one obvious way to do this so everyone makes that assumption."

"There is? How?"

"Marry her. The folk in town will look at her belly and raise their eyebrows and look at you, and sigh, and conclude your love was impatient. And now you are rushing to 'do the decent thing' and it will just be assumed that's the true story. I don't imagine anyone will conclude 'Maybe Bella used a sperm bank and just convinced Edward he did this'. They can see with their own eyes how besotted you are with her, they will at least understand you just couldn't wait until after a wedding."

"Dad, you are brilliant. I need a little time off. I have to go propose."

"Nope, you need to book a table and do it publicly. You two can show this town how much in love you are and bear the consequences of your rushed love. By next week, you will be old news."

Edward was elated all day and hummed as he saw patients and in between, he sent Bella texts and arranged for the table in Fork's best, and only, restaurant. He called his Mom and she dug out the family heirloom ring he had never considered offering Tanya. This was different, this was Bella. She would love it, not turn up her nose and insist on something hideously expensive in a small blue box.

And Gran would be ecstatic, knowing her beautiful ring would now grace the finger of such a beautiful woman.

Finally the long slow day came to an end and he was gone.

Bella was dressed and her hair was being elegantly braided on top of her head with long curly tendrils framing her face. She was softly made up and had a dress on he knew he hadn't seen before. He hardly noticed her bump, all he could look at was her cleavage.

Clearly this dress came from Alice and Rose because Bella would never look at something like this and choose it to wear in public and he sighed as he stood under the water in the shower and let his mind be filled with images of those round, full breasts on show just for him.

"Bellaaa," he moaned hoarsely and hoped he hadn't been overheard.

"So, the sex toys are redundant. I don't know why he even bought them, if he intended bringing you home and impaling you with the real thing," Rose said as she slid a small comb into Bella's hair to hold it in place.

"I don't think he thought that far ahead. It just sort of happened."

"Nope, it didn't. It just sort of happened the first time, and I was very disappointed in you."

"I never understood that. You spent the last three years telling me to 'go forth and fuck' and the one time I did, you were angry?" Bella sighed in exasperation.

"Because it was obvious to a blind man Edward wanted more. He wanted the whole deal and he doesn't even care about the stranger's twins."

"Wrong, Rose, he is plenty worried about them. He thinks some guy will swoop in and take them away from us. Face it, this proposal would not be happening tonight in other circumstances. He's panicking."

"But this would happen down the road anyway. I think it's the right thing to do."

"I don't know if we are ready. We've been together two minutes. What if we do 'marry in haste and repent in leisure'? What if we aren't suited and we are stuck together with twins and he wants out? I can cope alone but I don't know that I would be able to cope if he made promises then woke up one day, and left me."

"It won't happen. He loves you. You love him. God, you've been crushing on the guy for years. If Tanya hadn't been in the picture you would have jumped his bones the first time you saw him in the club. Admit it."

"I was with Riley, back then. I would hardly cheat on Riley," Bella growled.

"Mores the pity. That douche needed a taste of his own medicine."

"Rose, you know he and I were never exclusive."

"Say that one more time and I will slap you. Pregnant as you are, I really get the urge at times like these to slap the living bejesus out of you. Riley was a liar and a cheat and an opportunist and everyone knows that but you. Fuck, how many times did I walk in on him and some skank, going for it in an alley or back seat of his car? The Health Department would have condemned that vehicle on grounds of unsanitary jizz deposits on the rear leather seats had they tested it."

"He wasn't that bad," Bella said sadly. "Was he?"

"Him and that scrawny blond were at it every time I took some guy out there myself...fuck me. I just had a flashback. Riley was fucking Tanya Denali. I knew I knew that stupid cow from somewhere. She looks different with clothes on, instead of pooled around her ankles. And standing upright, instead of bent over the car hood."

"Did she recognise you, do you think?"

Rose shrugged. "Nobody went out there for the romantic lighting and ambience, it was frequented because it was badly lit. So, Tanya was always a skank and you were sleeping with Riley, and Riley was fucking Tanya and Edward was sleeping with Tanya. Sort of proves the Six degrees theory."

Rose caught the expression on Bella's face and winced.

"Edward is standing behind me, isn't he?" she asked.

"You got it. Time we made a swift exit," Alice concluded and grabbed Rose's hand. "You kids have fun and congrats and all."

Edward sat down and looked at his hands and breathed in deeply and slowly.

"It seems you were not the only fool, Bella. God, I wish I had known. I would have walked so much earlier. I feel like such a blind idiot."

"It wasn't your fault. You trusted her. There's nothing wrong with assuming people are good and faithful when you have no proof to the contrary. I knew about Riley and I lived in denial. I asked him and he said the others meant nothing, I was just inadequate to his needs. He needed more than I could give him. I guess I thought it was some problem I had, at the time. Now I can look back and agree with the truth. Riley was just a manwhore. I wasted my virginity on a man who banged every woman he ever met."

"Including my fiancee. I guess I never knew her like I thought I did."

"Edward, this is too soon. People must see us out together, they probably all think you did this anyway. The gossips in Forks don't tend to err on the side of caution. They are probably all expecting me to push out little copper haired babies."

"I wish you could. I get your point, maybe we should wait. We could get engaged still. That's kind of like admitting responsibility but being too wussy to step up like a real man. It would still serve the purpose."

"Edward," Bella said, walking to him and feeling him place his arm around her thighs as she bent to kiss the top of his head. "You don't need to rush out and save me. The babies might look like me. The donor could be some boring looking man only Angela sees beauty in. I mean...Ben Cheney? Justin Timberlake? Neither of them register on my beauty scale. I am probably carrying two very ordinary little babies who nobody will ever look closely at twice. That could be a problem, when you think about it. People will expect beautiful babies if we say they are yours."

"If they look like you, they will be amazing. So beautiful," he murmured.

"But they won't be outstanding. They won't have emerald green eyes that melt your heart and your resolve to be good. They won't have that amazing hair you got from Esme. I think we can count on the pale skin but they won't look anything like you, Edward. If you pretend to be their father, people will think I lied and slept around and didn't know whose they are. Let's face it, that's the truth. I have no idea whose babies these are. To think, I once wanted it that way. I used to think that was the most important thing. Now if I only knew who to avoid. Who to turn away from if I saw him coming towards us in the street. Now I wish I did know."

"Angela knows. I think Angela is the only one but she does know. She is right there, in the middle of everything. If anyone's donation was lesser than usual... If she handed over the sample to Rose, and she must have, she must know."

"Angela doesn't know Rose took it. We have never told anyone. Well, nobody but Alice, of course she knows. I can't risk anyone knowing what Rose did. Your father would hear about it and have no options. At the very least he would fire her. She did it for me, Edward. We have to let this go and never cause waves. Never make Angela start adding up and coming to any conclusions. Please. I'll say it was you, if you really want that, but please don't pursue this."

"Does Angela think we made love in that back room?" he asked.

"Of course she thinks we fucked. She saw us straight afterwards, she laughed when I insisted it was a dry hump. She said she was sure adults did things like thirteen year olds settled for. She didn't believe me for a minute."

"Well, good. She's our witness. Maybe she will remember more than she actually saw. Maybe she saw us hastily redress or she thinks you were cleaning up after I was inside you when she passed you coming out of the Ladies bathroom."

"She was a little plastered," Bella agreed. "And it was the first night she had sex with Ben. I'm sure in a court of law, she would remember every inch of him and little of anything else that happened that night."

"So, Bella, can we go get engaged? Please? It's not as binding as marriage, clearly, seeing I've done it before and walked away, but I need to do this. I want to do this. I want everyone to know you are mine. And it will be forever, don't ever doubt that, love. This is real and it may be hasty but it's what would happen anyway. I'll never let you slip between my fingers."

"Don't mention fingers. My hormones make me think about your fingers all the time," she groaned.

Edward slid his hand up her dress and caressed her thigh, then he exhaled when he failed to feel the fabric he had expected to encounter.

"Bella, no panties?" he moaned into her stomach as he palmed her mound and slipped a single finger between her folds. He placed his other hand in the small of her back and kept her in close.

"They are uncomfortable now," she whispered, opening her legs and throwing her head back as his clever long fingers rubbed and tantalised.

"Do you want to come on my hand?" he whispered, looking up at her lightly blushed face as he pushed his finger inside her core, stroking her, and shifting uncomfortably at the tightness in his jeans. "Or on my tongue?" he offered, disappearing beneath the hem of her frock.

Bella lightly held his head through the fabric and moaned as he tasted her. She wished she could see him in the mirror, that had been so hot. Just watching him stroke himself had set her off.

"Open your jeans and do that to yourself again," she whispered shyly and heard his zip open as his hand left her back.

"Play with your nipples, pretend it's me, sucking them," he replied hoarsely

Bella pulled the top of her dress down so her breasts were free and started rolling the pink buds in her fingers as she heard him jerking himself, and felt him thrust against her leg as he sucked her nerves and stroked hard with his tongue.

God, would they ever be able to just get dressed and go out any more? She wanted him all the time and he didn't seem to mind that. It was just hormones and would pass, she told herself as he nipped her and sent her over the edge as he pulsed against her leg wetly.

Edward stroked her clean gently with the wash cloth and smiled, knowing the minute they got home again tonight she would ravage him endlessly. He had to admit he loved a pregnant Bella. She was always horny, always so ready. It made such a change in his life and he felt more inclined to sing to the nurses at work rather than shout at them. He knew they all knew the reason he was so happy these days.

One word.

Bella.

She had changed his angry little world into a serene, happy, calm bubble instead. Her kisses, her touches, her words of love...

Her willing body.

"We should go do this, we need food to keep our strength up," he grinned.

"Then stop rubbing that towel on my mound," she replied and he kissed the naked flesh and pulled her dress down.

"Come on, while I can fit in these jeans. They seem to be too small around you."

X~x~X

Edward bit back a laugh as he held Bella's chair out from the table for her and glanced around the room. What a surprise. Somehow by pure coincidence, his parents had chosen to eat out as well. And in the corner, there sat Rose and his brother. And opposite them, Alice and Jasper.

It seemed his proposal was to be witnessed by the entire family and half the town.

Jacob Black walked in just as the waitress took their order and offered a rueful wave in their direction. Clearly Alice had told him to come. Edward glanced at the girl on his arm, presumedly the Leah the girl's discussed in the lunch room and seemed to approve of.

Edward was about to mention the lack of Angela's presence when the door opened and she and a much shorter Ben Cheney entered. Angela's eyes glowed and she hadn't spared any of the other diners a single glance, her beaming smile was all for Ben. They didn't look strange together. Lots of shorter men chose stauesque women and Angela stood tall and proud at her man's side. It was all in the attitude, Edward decided. All an onlooker would notice was the obvious attachment between the two, not the unmatching heights.

Ben pulled out Angela's chair and she blushed as if this act had never been performed for her before.

Edward shook his head. He worked all day with doctors who bitched about the lack of loving in their beds but how many of them knew how to treat a woman? They thought the only effort they needed to put in was in bed, yet puzzled as to why their women were never that willing. Little gestures meant such a lot to the ladies. Carlisle had taught him that from childhood. Be nice to the ladies at all times and they will be nice back to you at the times you really want them to be.

Bella changed her mind three times over what to order, then settled on a light meal of salad and sizzle steak in barbecue sauce and he followed her lead. He was strangely nervous and excited, even though this was preplanned and he knew she would accept. It still seemed like a focal point in his life. He had never proposed before.

With Tanya, they'd been shopping in Tiffany's and she'd pretty much demanded he buy her a diamond engagement ring that cost more than a small house and he had complied. No words had actually been spoken, it was just assumed they would marry. He had gone along with it, without thought. Tanya had always been his girlfriend and now those ten years seemed to have shrunk and flashed by much faster and the few months since they split seemed like forever.

A new life. A life he never knew he wanted. A life he now wanted to last forever.

Bella nervously scraped her dessert spoon against the bowl and set it down. The waitress poured more wine into hs glass and he swallowed it down quickly and waited as she cleared the table. He could feel all eyes on him, and he stood on slightly shaking legs and knelt down on the traditional single knee and took Bella's hand.

"You have given me everything I ever hoped for and dreamed about already, but would you give me the only other thing I could ever desire? Isabella Marie, I promise to love you every single day of forever. Say you will marry me."

"Yes, Edward, of course I will," she said and he slipped the vintage ring onto her finger. Bella gasped and raised her hand to her face and her eyes filled with tears.

"It's perfect. It's so beautiful, Edward. How did you know?"

He shrugged. "It seemed like it had been made for you, always. I've never even considered giving it to anyone before. Only you."

Edward stood and Bella threw herself into his arms and planted a kiss that was not that suited for polite public scrutiny and he kissed her back with matching passion. The sound of the watchers clapping and cheering brought him back and he realised he didn't even care about why they were doing this now, just the fact she had said yes and he got to keep her forever.

The public display had lost it's meaning. All he saw was Bella and her deep brown eyes that shone into his green eyes. He took her hand and led her away before the kissing and hugging rituals started. She had just agreed to be his and he was not ready to share.

Carlisle would pay their bill. He just needed to get his Bella home.

X~x~X

Bella went upstairs to her bedroom, pulling Edward by the hand behind her.

"I have something to show you." Edward smirked and raised his eyebrows. He was pretty sure he had seen everything she had to show him already, and touched and kissed every single inch of her many times.

She knelt by her bed and pulled out an old shoebox and dug around amongst the faded photos and school report cards and mementoes of her life.

"Aha, here it is," she sighed happily and held up a small childish diary. It had a pink cover with a cherub on the front and she flipped the pages over until she found the one she wanted.

"Read this."

_Today I am seven years old which is nearly an adult. Almost. I wish I was taller. I wish Jake would stop pulling my hair. I wish I had not got caught putting my gum into his hair, he deserved it._

_Last night I dreamed of my prince charming and he gave me a ring...see picture on left. I think it has like little diamonds on it instead of one big one like Mommy's ring has. But she says hers is a small diamond anyways but it's big. Daddy says she is never satisfied. I wish she liked her ring, I think it's beautiful. but mine is even better. more beautifuller._

Edward laughed at the sketch. It was exactly the ring on her finger.

"How did you know? Did you read my Diary already?" she questioned.

"Of course not, but now I will. I'm keeping this. I want to get into the mind of seven year old Bella Swan. I want to see how she ticked back then."

Bella blushed and grabbed for the diary and Edward held it up out of her reach and laughed. He read the words in the childish scrawl out loud.

"Prince Charming and me ...Prince Charming and I...I can never remember...anyways, we are having two babies, a boy baby that looks like him and a girl baby that is pretty and has blond hair like Rosalie because she has the best hair ever. I hope her Mom never makes her have it cut off. I wish my hair was blond and pretty and not boring and brown. Mom says 'brunette, Bella, you are a brunette' like that makes brown more special. No boy is ever going to like brunette more than blond."

"Actually," Edward said, turning towards Bella as she lay beside him with her arms crossed over her chest.

"I've always preferred brunettes."

"Tanya was blond," Bella frowned.

"Okay, here's the deal. We never mention Tanya again. I know I slip up now and then because it was over ten years I was with her, but I would prefer we never said her name, or at least said it as little as possible. Bella, truly, I never felt this way for her. Not the way I feel about you. She was there, she was willing, at first. She became a habit and it was convenient and I always had a date without going through the sweating palms and chaotic heartbeating Emmett went through asking a new girl out. It was easier to just stick with her. I guess I got lazy and complacent. I noticed other girls but it all seemed like too much effort until I met you."

"But you didn't break up with her because of me?" she panicked.

"Nuh, I broke up with her because it was time. We'd pretty much run our course and there was nothing left then she threw the abortion at me, and I guess, I lost even the small amount of respect I still had for her. I should have broken things off a lot earlier."

"Promise you will never let us end up that way? If you want out, you say so."

"Bella, I will never want out from you."

"Do you want 'in'?" she giggled and Edward turned her away from him and undid the long zip on the back of her dress. "Oh yes, Baby, I will always want in."

X~x~X

Bella lay in the almost dark and admired the ring on her left hand as the moonlight beamed through her window and caught every diamond and caused them to glitter every color of the rainbow. She could not believe her ring had already existed, back when she drew that sketch.

His gran had worn this ring for sixty seven years. She had only died a year ago. Bella wished she had known her. The photos Edward had of the two of them always made her heart catch for a moment, he looked so happy sitting on her lap as a small boy, and he even still kissed her forehead when he put his arms around her shoulders for photos with her when he was a teenager. No stand off surly,'I wish I was anywhere else' sneers on his face.

Her name was Emma, Bella knew that, and she suddenly hoped deeply that one of these small football players inside her was a girl. She had that little dress Esme had made and Emma Cullen was such a sweet name. He could name the other baby.

She wouldn't object to whatever name he chose but if there was a girl, she was Emma. Done deal.

Edward's arms surrounded her even in sleep and his hands rested lightly on her rapidly increasing abdomen.

One of the babies kicked and rolled and Bella held her hand over his and watched their hands jolt slightly.

"So, are you Emma? I hope you are. I hope one of you is, anyway. I can't wait to see you both. Try and look like me, don't look like him, okay? Whoever he is, you are Edward's babies now. I know you can't perform miracles and look like him, but at least just look like me, okay?"

She slept soundly, lying naked in the arms of her man.

Her Prince Charming.

She just wished he had come along a little sooner.

Right before Riley Biers would have been good.


	8. Chapter 8

The Sperm Donor

Chapter 8

"Move over, Fatty," Rose ordered, sitting beside Bella on the outdoor lounger beside the pool.

She was eating, yet again and Bella wanted to steal the burger from her hand and gobble it herself but she didn't have a lot of room for food now. One twin was high and seemed to have compressed her lungs and stomach and taken over that area, the other twin was low and sat on top of her bladder.

At least she was getting plenty of exercise, waddling to the bathroom constantly.

"Bella, would you like anything else to eat?" Carlisle asked, waving his spatula at her.

"I wish I had room, everything was delicious," she answered, struggling to her feet. Time to pee yet again.

Edward and Jasper were attempting to drown Emmett in the pool despite the coolness of the day. No brains, no feeling, Bella concluded. Alice had stripped down to a bikini and Bella had sighed and wondered how it would ever be possible to be that size and shape again, after this new size and shape.

She wore a size ELE she joked. Extra Large Elephant.

Nine more weeks and she would possibly split open and not have to push this pair out anyway. The birth scared her. Mainly the bit in between. She should probably stop Googling Twin Birth Stories, but she wanted to know what she was in for. She had watched videos and home movies and birth scenes galore but they tended to stop filming after Baby Number One appeared, and had been checked and wrapped and held by it's Mom, then they rolled again as the second twin emerged, often saying something like "an hour later, William decided to join Erica and was born at 7.15am."

What Bella wanted to know was what happened in that hour, or two hours or whatever, when one baby was out and the other still inside. Did you still have constant contractions? Would it be Hell?

What had she let herself in for, anyway?

Edward always reassured her that both he and Carlisle would do everything possible to make this double entrance as comfortable as medically possible. Carlisle had mentioned he preferred the mother to have an epidural from the start with twins, if she was delivering vaginally, so he could intervene any way necessary.

He recommended a c section but added it wasn't essential and her twins were placed well. The lower baby was already firmly head down in the birth canal though it hadn't 'dropped' apparently. Somehow there was some place it could get it's head to that was even lower yet not on the sidewalk.

Twin Two was still in a transverse lie across her belly but that would change, Carlisle promised, once there was room after the first baby emerged.

She had packed her bag and tossed in several novels she wanted to read and never found time for, and Edward had laughed and hugged her, saying he adored her optimism. He seemed to think she would be too busy doing God knows what in hospital, to have time to read.

She had packed her knitting though she didn't really see how this baby jacket pattern thing worked, it didn't look like any jacket she had ever seen.

Alice was amazing when it came to making clothes and the nursery was stuffed full of little creations she and Esme seemed to have no difficulty making up like magic. Dresses and little boy suits and blankets and then all the things Edward bought. The man was a mystery, he loved shopping for baby clothes.

And lingerie.

Despite her expanded waistline, he still liked to dress her up in black lace and take her from behind, the only reasonable angle these days. He always made sure she had 'enjoyed herself' before he even went inside her. He was determined she had to enjoy their lovemaking as much as he did so she was always smiling.

Despite having a belly that needed it's own zip code.

Panties were long forgotten, only struggled into the days she had her check-ups with Carlisle, it would never do for her almost Father-In-Law to know what a tart she was. The fact they were uncomfortable was handy but in reality, when she snuck into Edward's office to 'see how his day was going', he was always willing to make her day that little bit brighter and the no panties made that easier.

They had never been caught and he never did the whole 'throwing her across the desk' scenario though maybe that was because she may well break the furniture if he even tried. He just used his hands under her frock and took her to her happy place and sent her on her way smiling broadly.

She was so grateful her Mom hadn't hung around long enough to lecture her about not letting boys do 'naughty things' to her with their hands, because she loved Edward's naughty hands. And the things he did with them.

Esme smiled as she waddled outside again.

"It will soon be over and you won't even remember all this," she promised. "Once you hold those little babies, it will all be worthwhile."

"Little babies? They feel like baby hippos, I can't believe it when Carlisle says they are about three to four pounds now. They feel more like ten pounds each. And sixteen inches long? I don't think so. Maybe double that."

"Legs seem to be everywhere, don't they" Esme agreed. "Truly, Bella, I think back at my pregnancies with such fondness. You will remember this time as being far more beautiful and precious than you do at the moment with a foot in your bladder and a back that feels like it wants the epidural now, for the next nine weeks."

"I'm glad that will happen because all I can think at the moment is, what was I thinking? I love the thought of having an instant family like this but I don't know if I will ever be game to do this again. And I have to, Esme. He deserves the chance to have at least two babies of his own, seeing he has accepted this pair so eagerly."

"He's never mentioned anything to me about that," Esme admitted. "Maybe he won't care, once these two are born."

Bella shook her head. "That would be so unfair for him. Anyway, I want a little copperhaired boy just like him. I have no idea what these two will look like. Apart from knowing this one here is shorter and has small limbs and the top one has long limbs and is on the tall side for his gestational age, but then, that could just be the boy/girl thing."

"So, do you know it's a boy and a girl? Carlisle said you didn't want to know."

"I probably should ask. He knows. I even think Edward knows but I want the surprise. I think it's a boy and a girl. Maybe not. Maybe two boys. They are both active. I kind of think of boys as active and girls as gentle."

"It's a theory," Esme agreed. "But Emmett was so active I feared he would fall out of me into the ground when I walked anywhere. Edward was so gentle, always turning over rather than trying to kick his way out like his brother."

"Oh, I want an Edward Baby so bad," Bella sighed. "Truly, even if he never asks, I know in reality, once I get over this pregnancy, it will be me nagging for him to give me a baby or even two. Just not twins again."

"He loves these babies very much. I don't think you need worry he would love one of his own more. He thinks of these as his. I think he believes the lie himself now."

"I wish it had happened. I wish now I had jumped him properly, then at least there would be the chance these were his and we would never ask for tests. Just assume they were. But there is no chance, Esme. I'm sad about that."

"I'm proud of the fact he didn't give in though. What he did was not that bad in the scale of infidelity, but he still feels torn about it. He thought he was a better man, and it shocked him how he didn't walk away from you and come back after he disposed of her."

"Do you have any regrets that he didn't marry Tanya?" Bella asked. "You must have thought of her almost as a daughter."

Esme shook her head. "I never wanted that. She and I didn't click. She was always thinking of herself and how any decision affected her, never him. The abortion is a case in point. She didn't consider he had any say. Her body, her choice. I know he doesn't grieve over her but he does still feel the loss of that baby."

"And that is another reason I have to give him a child of his own," Bella replied, shifting her weight to her other leg. "Could you ask Edward to come take me home, I feel really tired suddenly."

Esme led her to a chair and called in her husband to make sure Bella was okay while she got Edward out of the pool and sent him inside.

Carlisle frowned and looked at Edward.

"I think maybe we might put Bella in for a few days rest in hospital and give her back a break from the strain of carrying this pair around. A few days bedrest and you might feel better, Sweetheart. You drive her in then go get her bag."

Edward drove carefully along the road to the hospital and turned to Bella as they parked.

"You are okay, he isn't panicked. He just wants this pair to stay put as long as possible and getting you off your feet may help."

"I'm not worried, I just think he intends to keep me in until the birth, for some reason. Just the way he said it, it sounded like this will be my life for a while."

"Lying in bed, being waited on and given blanket baths? You can handle it," Edward grinned.

"Blanket baths? Do they even still do that? I will be allowed to shower, right?"

"Probably but I thought you might enjoy my blanket baths," he answered with a wink.

"Are our days of sex over for now?" she asked seriously.

Edward shrugged. "Whatever Dad decides is best, we do. The jury is out on whether sex brings on childbirth. We will not take any chances, that is for sure."

"I'm going to miss you. How will I sleep without you holding me for nine weeks?"

Edward smiled. He knew it was never going to be another nine weeks. Maybe four more if they were lucky. She was so small and the babies were large and heavy and her skin was stretched to capacity. She would get stretchmarks any day and he should prepare her and assure her he would only ever see them as visible signs of her love for their children.

"I will be sleeping right here beside you until Carlisle sends me away. I couldn't sleep without you in my arms either, Bella."

"Will they allow that?" she asked worriedly.

"I shall write it on your chart. Doctor's orders, patient must have one doctor wrapped around her body every night."

"Do I get to chose which doctor?" she teased.

"I was thinking maybe Mike could do every second night," Edward replied, straight faced.

"No thank you, Dr Cullen. It's you or you bring in my body pillow and I use it to replace your body."

"Oh nice, replaced by a bag of feathers," he growled.

Bella took a long shower and washed her hair twice in case she was permanently restricted to bed and dressed slowly in one of the pretty nightgowns Esme had sewn for her. They had hidden access for breastfeeding, so she had better not tell Edward that or he would want to test them out.

Esme had breastfed him until his second birthday which made Bella wonder if he had been addicted thus the reason he was forever attached to her nipples with his mouth. Maybe it had always been a source of comfort.

It certainly kept him happy when gentle sex was the only thing on the menu, and now that could be taken away as well.

Edward helped her brush her hair dry and get into bed. Later as they lay there watching dvd's, Rose arrived and shoo'ed Edward out and sat beside Bella.

"I'm going to braid your hair so it doesn't knot and get grubby," she said airily but Bella knew then.

"I'm restricted to bed until delivery, aren't I? You wouldn't be doing this otherwise. Admit it."

Rose winked. "I'm not a doctor, even though I always prefer the dominant role in Doctors and Nurses, so how would I know?"

"Because Carlisle sent you to do this," Bella sighed.

"Maybe the man has this thing about braids," Rose joked, pulling the long tresses into place and securing the ends.

"All done, now no writhing about and messing them up. I shall inform Edward of the rule. Bye, Sweetie, see you tomorrow."

"Rose, is there a roster for when you all visit me?" she asked.

"Sure, but Alice and I work here, we can visit any time we get a break. And Edward will always be just a few rooms away. We will be here when you need us. I'm going to go buy some new magazines, the ones left here are old. Oh, Emmett got your bag, so read those books now, while you have the time."

"Good idea," Bella agreed.

Edward was back with hot tea and cookies and he resumed cuddling her and they watched the end of the movie. Happily ever after, the way Bella wanted her own life to end.

X~x~X

The first week was the worst. Bella's legs cramped and jerked and wanted to walk. She was allowed bathroom visits but nothing more. Quick showers with Edward's supervision, and no sex. Not even a little bit, Carlisle decided, earning glares from both patient and her partner.

"We could plan the wedding. We could have the wedding in here. I'd like the babies to be Cullens from the start. I don't want them referred to as Swans, and hospital policy says they have to have the same surname as their mother while they are in here."

Bella agreed, there was no way there would be babies without his surname.

Rose and Alice rushed out and arrived in lipstick pink dresses and pale pink accessories and Jasper and Emmett suited up, as did Edward.

Esme surprised Bella with a snowy white lacy nightgown that was easily as gorgeous as any wedding dress and the little group surrounded the bed as Edward said the vows he had written and Bella replied with her own. It was brief and not how she had imagined she would marry Prince Charming when she was seven, but it felt right.

And Edward grabbed her name card from the top of the bed and ripped up 'Isabella Swan' and replaced it with 'Isabella Cullen'.

Angela tossed confetti over them and beamed at Ben, hoping he got the message. She was twenty seven years old, a good age to wed. And she liked weddings, look at her having so much fun here today.

Bella grinned and lined up her bouquet and tossed it into Angie's waiting hands.

Rose and Alice made weak attempts to catch it themselves and clapped when Angela scored the catch.

"You two made no effort, don't you want to get married?" Bella asked.

Alice and Rose each lay their left hands on her bed and displayed their glinting diamond rings. Alice's was like her, small and pretty. Rose's was ostentatious and shiny, like herself.

"So, when is the big day?"

"Soon," Alice grinned.

Rose shrugged. "I had no plans to get tied down but you always said if I found a good man I should consider grabbing on to him and I've never felt this way about anyone else. I guess I'm ready. I can't have all these old married friends and stay single, can I?" she stated happily.

"Oh no, Rose. You must get married to match us," Bella replied with a laugh.

She yawned and Edward emptied the room as Esme and Angela cleared away the glass cake plates and remainder of the wedding cake.

Bella was asleep before the room was finished and Edward stripped down to his boxers and T shirt and claimed his place in bed beside Mrs Edward Cullen.

The how's and where's of the wedding were irrelevant to him. Bella was his now, legally as well as every other way. What God hath joined together let no man even try to put asunder.

X~x~X

That week was the calm before the storm. Edward took time off for his 'honeymoon', which was a chaste affair with nothing more than kissing happening between bride and groom, but he knew they would remedy that in the future. He would wait until the twins were sleeping through and accepting bottles before taking her away for a few nights of bliss.

Bella stirred restlessly in the night and had started babbling randomly about Prince Charming and their babies and Carlisle often stood beside the bed, checking her blood pressure and smiling at her words.

"How much longer do you think she can hold off?" Edward asked his father.

Carlisle shook his head.

"I would move her to Seattle if I thought it safe to make the trip. Her lower sac of waters is bulging, she is fully dilated, it could be any day. No more bathroom trips, she uses bedpans from now on."

"Seven weeks early. They will be okay though, right?"

"I hope so. The girl is small but her mother is small. The boy is very long, but thin. He worries me a little. I can't say exactly why but the girl seems the hardier of the two, and she is the one who will break the waters."

She did just that, hours later and Edward clenched his fists impotently and pressed the buzzer and asked the nurse to call Carlisle back in.

Bella woke up and frowned.

"Did I wet myself?" she asked and Edward took her hand in his and gazed into her eyes.

"The babies are ready, Bella. Dad is on his way. They will be born tonight."

"No," she replied, shaking her head. "They are not ready yet. They are too small and they won't be able to breathe."

"Those injections Dad has been giving you are to mature their lungs."

"So not vitamins?" she replied.

"No, steroids. It will give them a good chance to breathe alone. But they might need some help. Don't worry, you have two Dr Cullen's at your side. And Mike."

Carlisle examined Bella and announced he preferred to deliver by C section so Bella was prepped and Edward waited nervously to be by her side again, as promised.

"Shit, she's crowning," Carlisle cursed as he situated himself between Bella's feet as the nurse hastily arranged the stirrups. Edward realised he had never heard his father curse in front of a female before.

The baby was being born, right now, the head out and airways were being sucked clear even as the shoulders turned.

Baby Girl Cullen slipped easily into the world, and screamed as the air hit her three pound three ounce body.

Her arms waved indignantly and Edward laughed in relief at her angry little face as her body changed from purple to pink to red and settled for a combination of all three.

"Emma," Bella said drowsily.

"Emma? Really? I love it," Edward said happily.

The nurse roughly towelled the little body and the baby kept the screaming up as she was weighed and measured and pronounced a nine then a ten.

Bundled into a blanket and little pink cap, Edward got to hold her first as Carlisle and Mike quickly debated how the boy would be delivered.

"He's not moving down. C section," Edward was surprised to hear spoken.

He handed his daughter back to the nurse and took Bella's hand as she gazed at him in panic.

It was quick, and the longer but still tiny body lay in Carlisle's hands minutes later.

"Why isn't he crying?" Bella asked and Edward bit his lip and glanced at the two surgeons.

Carlisle handed the baby to Mike who rushed over to the resus bench.

"Dad?" Edward asked.

Carlisle shook his head sadly.

"Is he okay?" Bella asked fearfully.

"He's not breathing. They are trying to revive him," Edward said, still with hope despite his father's grim face.

The only sound in the room was the wail of their daughter and the nurse took her to Bella and lay her in her mother's arms.

"The little girl is fine and she needs to be held," the woman said, looking sadly at Edward.

Edward peered into the blanket and smiled at Bella. "She looks like you. Brunette. Those eyes are so dark I think they will go brown like yours."

"Is he dead?" Bella asked.

Edward lifted Emma from her mother and placed her up against his shoulder.

"They have tried everything, love."

"Give him to me," she said loudly and Mike carried the small body and handed it to his mother.

"I'm so sorry, Bella. He just didn't make it."

Bella unwrapped the small boy and gasped as Edward straightened in shock. The baby had a full head of shining copper hair and the same jawline as he faced in the mirror every morning. His fingers were delicate, long and slim, like Edward's own.

His feet were big, too big, and the toes long in proportion. Edward had struggled getting shoes to fit all his life because of toes like those.

Bella lay the baby facedown on her own body, with his head between her breasts and stroked his hair.

"Edward. Edward Anthony Masen Cullen Junior," she announced with tear filled eyes. Edward nodded silently. He had no idea how this could have happened but he knew that was his son.

"God, of course, Rose stole my sperm," he muttered."The last deposit, before it was washed."

The boy gasped and Bella's eyes filled with hope.

"Reflex, it doesn't mean anything," Carlisle said sadly, putting the stethoscope to the little body and shaking his head again. He took it away and covered the baby with a blue blanket and Bella started to sing as she stroked the little copperhaired head.

Mike left the room and the nurse approached with Edward's camera and took some photos of the four of them, then she walked away as well.

The small boy gasped, more strongly and Bella looked at Edward.

"I think his heart is beating," she said and he touched the baby's back and smiled sadly at her, hating to take away hope.

"He's gone, Love. He feels alive because he is warm from you. You are feeling your heart beating against him."

The baby gasped again, louder and let out a little cry and Carlisle leapt to her side and listened again.

"She's right, his heart is beating. He's breathing."

"How can that be?" Edward asked.

"Who knows? Skin to skin contact. His eyes are open. Edward, look at his eyes."

Edward gazed into the emerald green eyes of his son as Carlisle monitored the baby, leaving him on Bella's chest.

"She's keeping his body warm while he is trying to control his own temperature, leave him there," he ordered.

Word flew around the hospital and Mike rushed back in and shook his head in wonder. A few minutes in Bella's arms and she had achieved what twenty minutes of attempts to revive him had not.

"Will he be okay?" she asked.

"Probably," Carlisle replied. "he's responding normally and it was only a matter of minutes between the resuscitation attempts and his own breathing kicking in. He's testing at a nine now. Color's excellent, breathing's steady, heartbeat is regular. He's okay, Bella."

Bella was reluctant to hand him over at all until Carlisle explained he would do better now he was warm, if they put him into an incubator and monitored him closely.

Edward handed Emma over and went to Bella's room when she was put back into her own bed again.

"Go check on them, Edward," she begged every ten minutes or so and he would go next door to the prem nursery and report back that both babies were yelling loudly now, and Edward Junior was fine.

"That was one Hell of a shocking ordeal to go through," he said as he lay beside his wife and held her gently.

"I don't think I want any more babies," she replied and he stroked her shoulder.

"That's fine. We have one of each. We don't need more."

"Rose stole your sperm? But she didn't know. She calls them The Stranger's Twins. There is no way she knows."

"Angela must be here, I'll go call her."

Angela entered the room and handed Bella the two Polaroid photos from the nursery.

"Wow, amazing. You saved your own son," she grinned.

"Angela, you made a comment to Rose about a certain donor being the best looking man to ever use the Fertility Clinic."

Angela blushed.

"God, am I in trouble? I did immediately correct myself and call him X27. I mean, called you X27. Is there a problem?"

"No, not at all," laughed Edward. "It's fine. Forget it."

Angela reported both twins were sleeping now and looked amazing.

After she left, Edward kissed Bella and smiled. "Congratulations, Mrs Cullen, you managed to give birth to your husband's children. Tell me that was not meant to be. I dare you."

"We should have named one of them kismet," she replied.

"We still can. Emma needs a second name. And nobody will ever know why we chose such an unusal name for her. Emma Kismet Cullen. And what do we call our son, now? I am not being 'Old Edward' so he can be 'Young Edward' And we are not calling him 'Junior'."

"Anthony?"

Edward shrugged. "Don't tell Mom but I never liked that name."

"Masen?" she suggested.

"Okay. Masen it is. Emma and Masen Cullen. Done."

"I want to keep the whole name officially, just shorten it to Masen," Bella pleaded.

"That's fine. A boy can be named after his father. Even if his father didn't know he was his father and wanted to pretend to be his father."

"I love you, Edward," Bella replied.

X~x~X

The days that followed progressed normally, with no new dramas and baby Masen proved to be an eager feeder or as Bella put it, a 'boob man like his father'. Both babies were gaining weight and Bella was somehow managing to recover from her natural childbirth/c section deliveries.

Edward did all the grunt work and changed diapers and clothing and did the bathing of his two tiny children and the visitors came thick and fast for a glimpse through glass at the little girl and her miracle brother.

Bella had put the trauma behind her and concentrated on just feeding, eating, drinking, and sleeping. Her Father-in-law had already said she could leave but she refused to be discharged until both twins were.

She was managing to stand fully upright again and moving about normally, after days of help from Edward and Esme as well as the nursing staff. Alice seemed to pop in every hour, and Rose sat with her after work for an hour or more.

Both girls had decided they quite liked babies, now the birth and it's terrifying almost tragedy was over.

Edward was just finishing up with his daughter and settling her back to sleep when he noticed a new face at the nursery window.

He stepped outside and stood beside his ex almost wife.

"Tanya. How are you?" he asked, determined to be civil now he had two little living babies of his own.

"So, you still claim you didn't fuck her?" Tanya replied, gesturing at Masen and his flaming head of Edward hair.

"Oh, I admit they are mine," Edward hedged.

"Well, they only get made one way, Edward. Just admit it."

"I admit I betrayed you and fell in love with Bella before ending things between us properly and I do apologise but it was the best thing I ever did," he answered.

"And you fucked her in that back room."

"I fathered her twins," he admitted. "It's a long story, Tanya and you would never believe it."

"Fine. Just so long as you admit I wasn't the only cheater."

"You were not the only cheater. My sperm was inside Bella before I even met her, so I guess that makes me the bigger cheater of the two," he said, walking away.


	9. Chapter 9

3xw dot dailymail dot co dot uk/health/article-1306283/Miracle-premature-baby-declared-dead-doctors-revived-mothers-touch dot html

**Thanks SO much for the reviews, as often is the case, they are better than the story. I love reading them and am truly sorry I don't have time to reply to each one.**

The Sperm Donor

Chapter 9

Carlisle sat behind his desk and faced the four staff members in front of him.

"First of all, does anyone have anything to say to me?" he asked. Four faces looked at one another and shook their heads, as three of them had agreed. The fourth was both innocent and ignorant of what this meeting was about.

"Okay, fine. There are two ways Edward could have become the father of Bella's twins. The usual way, and because he and I were discussing his situation with Tanya on a daily basis, I don't believe that was what occurred. The other alternative is, somehow Bella managed to obtain some of Edward's donated sperm before it was destroyed. Would anyone have any comments to make?"

Rose stared at the family portrait on the wall of Dr Cullen and his wife and family and kept her eyes fixed firmly on Emmett's image.

Angela looked around, confused.

Tyler, who had frozen the straws in the cryo bath, crossed his arms and glared. He had not done anything wrong.

"There were the same amount of straws for donor X27 that final day, the day the donations were destroyed. That's all I can attest to," he stated. He handed over the records and stood by his Boss's desk.

"You may leave, Tyler. Thank you for attending."

The door closed and Carlisle scrutinised the three remaining faces.

Edward shrugged.

"I fucked up. I didn't tell you because I feared you would think lesser of me if you knew. I had sex, unprotected sex, in the back room of the bar, with Bella, even though I barely knew her name. I guess I was a little drunk and reckless and wasn't thinking with my brain."

"Is that what you two believe happened?" Carlisle asked the girls.

"They definitely had sex," Angela confirmed. "I mean, I've known Bella forever and when she was with...her first real boyfriend, you could always tell when they'd...done it...by her face and she had that face when I passed her going to the Ladies Room. And Edward was all flushed and smiley like men are after they score."

"Rosalie? Did you notice this?"

"I noticed Bella dragged Edward off the dancefloor and into the back room. I don't believe there are chess sets or dominoes or Twister mats back there. I believe couples only go there for one reason. They did both return to the dancefloor flushed and, you know, "bonded", like they had shared an experience together. They had shiny eyes and the connection had been made between them. And the rest of the evening, he never left her alone for a single minute. They were laughing and talking and doing the post fuck banter people do when they aren't ready to walk away and accept it was a one night stand.

Angela was counting how many times he kissed her, I believe she said it was in the region of fifty times, that we saw. Who knows what the real total was? He liked her, he had this instant attraction happen the first moment he saw her. I was thinking of maybe spending a little time with him myself but the moment he saw her dancing with Jake, I knew it wasn't going to happen for Rosalie Hale with him. Bella had this thing about him for years. I believe she said something to me that confirms what happened," Rose added.

"What was that?"

"She said something like 'Don't look all shocked at me, Rose. You told me to go forth and fuck and the only time I took your advice in three years you act like I did something wrong.' She also said she got the opportunity to have sex with Edward finally and she took it."

"And she said these things on that night?" Carlisle questioned.

Rose shrugged. "You have got me there. It was a long time ago. We talk every day but to the best of my recollection, it was probably that night. I mean, he stayed away from her for months after that. It must have been that night."

"Fine. I am warning both of you officially, there are now new measures in place and nobody will handle sperm donations alone. Rose, your workplace is now situated beside Tyler's table and you will only process samples when he is there. Angela, you will collect and hand the samples over to Rose, accompanied by a second nurse. Alice Brandon comes to mind. No donor sperm will ever be in the hands of one single unaccompanied staff member. Do you both understand?"

"Yes sir," Rose and Angela replied and stood to leave.

"I apologise for getting you two put under suspicion because of my actions," Edward said sincerely as they both nodded and left the room.

As the door closed, Carlisle shook his head.

"I call bullshit."

"Prove it," Edward smirked. "I was in the back of the bar, having drunk a few shots, with a beautiful willing Bella riding on top of me, do you really think I had the self control to stop and walk away unsatisfied? They all saw our faces, we had indulged in pleasure of a specific kind. The kind drunks in bars tend to indulge in."

"I know you have more self control than any man I have ever met," Carlisle answered. "The fact Tanya Denali is still alive is proof of that. The fact you actually spoke to her like she was any other person at the viewing nursery. I'm afraid that woman would have been able to have me brought up on domestic violence charges had I been in your shoes."

"Yes, but that's Tanya. She has never meant enough to me to make me feel out of control. Sure, I hate that she aborted my baby but if she hadn't, I wouldn't be here today with a son and daughter and a wife I truly love with all my heart."

"So, you are sticking to the story. And the comment you made in the OR when you first saw Masen? I believe you said 'of course, Rose stole my sperm'."

"I thought my son was stillborn. I had no control of my brain or tongue. I could have said anything."

"Fair enough, Edward. I will let it go, but I don't think less of you for all this. I respect the fact you are protecting the staff and taking the blame yourself."

"Believe me, Dad, in that back room...you have no idea. I have no idea how I restricted myself and didn't fuck her brains out all night long. If dreams were evidence, I would be found guilty many times over. Bella has always affected me in a way Tanya never came close to."

"It's fortunate you two are married, then and that you never married Tanya."

"Believe me, I thank my lucky stars every day. I don't know if I would have been able to ever say those vows to her, I'm glad I was never put to the test. I mean, I screwed around on her, right, Dad?"

"Sure, Edward. You screwed around behind Tanya's back. Of course, I could always tell your children on their twenty first birthday how they got conceived in the back of a bar while their parents were drunken strangers."

Edward laughed.

"I'm not kidding," Carlisle growled.

"Of course you aren't. I was just remembering something I once overheard my mother talking to you about."

"Edward?"

"It was some comment about who would have thought jumping a handsome young intern in a dark alley behind a bar would lead to a marriage that had just hit it's thirtieth anniversary. And how the guests at the rushed wedding, being held before the bride outgrew her wedding gown, all gave them six months.

But the bride and groom showed them, they had lasted twenty nine years and six months longer at that point. Gosh, I wonder who she was talking to you about? And there's that little joke she whispers to you, about Emmett attending your wedding. So confusing, I know he was born seven months later. Premature?"

"I believe it's bath time for the twins. The staff will bathe them before you get to the nursery if you don't hurry."

"Fine, I should go then. Goodbye, Father."

"Goodbye, Edward," Carlisle growled. At least Edward didn't know Esme had been engaged to another man at the time. Luckily she considered that relationship ended the night he met her and took her out to the alley. He had never intended having sex with her, especially not against a building, but damn, that woman had been hot and willing.

She still was, and he suspected it would be the same way between Edward and Bella in years to come. And they would think it was funny to pretend they made those babies in the back room of a bar, no doubt.

Oh well, the murky start had never disadvantaged Emmett. Ten pound eleven ounces and 'two months early'. Never seen the likes of it, he chuckled, remembering his own father's face when the family came to meet their newly born first grandson.

His father had taken him aside and told him he didn't think that baby was premature at all.

His mother had overheard and assured him, first babies can take any length of time to gestate, it's only the later siblings that take nine months. She had listed a whole lot of his cousins and even himself as being proof of that statistic. He'd been 'six weeks early' and nine pounds at birth himself. Yet his brothers had all just hit eight pounds and been full term.

Of course it bothered him that Rose had breached the rules, flaunted them completely, but he could hardly come down on his soon to be daughter-in-law in her condition. And that condition had definitely come about in the more usual method. God knows Emmett never left the woman alone and they would find out soon they needed to move the wedding date forward.

Carlisle had seen the faces of too many newly pregnant women to not recognise the signs immediately. The pale complexion, the worried brow because they were slightly 'late', the tender breasts they unconsciously rubbed when nobody was looking.

Oh yes, there would be a cousin and playmate for Emma and Masen before too much longer. Then Alice will insist on having a bay as well and he'd be down two good workers.

Everyone 'fucked up' once and Rose would never step out of line again and Thank God she stole Edward's sperm and not some other donor's.

That was certainly a piece of luck.

He left his office and went into the nursery and was handed his first grandson, newly bathed and dressed all in pale blue. There was no need for paternity tests, these were clearly Edward's children. He remembered holding his third son, looking exactly like this baby, in his arms after delivery and being so grateful the boy was alive.

Even Emmett and Edward were unaware of the second Cullen boy, stillborn, a year after his older brother's birth and a year before Edward's.

Anthony, Esme had named him. Carlisle had been devastated, both to lose a son after a perfectly normal fullterm pregnancy and to have put his dear wife through that trauma and pain. And it had seemed history was repeating itself when Masen was born, and refused to breathe.

Maybe if he had placed Anthony against Esme's heart...

He couldn't think like that. Masen was a miracle and you only saw one of those in your lifetime.

Maybe not, he amended when Edward called him over to see Emma as she lay back, so calm and relaxed as her father bathed her.

"She's revisiting the womb, look at her face. She's blissed out," Edward smiled.

The little girl sucked on her fist and waved the other arm about in the air and Carlisle knew she was a miracle as well. He'd never had a daughter but he would have loved to been the father of a precious little girl just like this one. And she was named after his own mother.

Emmett was as well, it was as close as he could come to her name but masculinized.

Esme would adore these twins and he suspected she would have even if they hadn't been 'blood'. She knew how precious every baby was. They'd been lucky, managing to get two wonderful surviving sons, though Anthony would never be forgotten. He would always be the son that had never caused them any worry and bother, unlike Emmett and Edward. Carlisle had seriously wanted to kidnap Edward and take him away to some hideout in Alaska and keep him locked in the basement until he saw sense, when he came home from that shopping trip and Tanya Denali was sporting a large, ugly diamond on her finger.

Okay, Edward had chosen her when he was only seventeen and had little life experience but a blind man would have seen he could do better. How he stayed with her for ten years. Ten years that Esme worried and sometimes even cried over. She always wanted better for Edward.

He looked up as his wife came inside and took Emma from Edward's hands.

"Oh come on, it's my turn. You hold her all the time," she admonished their son when he growled at her.

"Look, Carlisle, she's dressed all in pink. That makes a nice change after all the blue."

"She's adorable," he agreed.

"Best baby girl ever, you mean," Edward corrected.

"She really is. And this little man here is your clone. I expect one day you will tell me what happened and how Bella had no idea these babies were yours," Esme said quietly.

"I guess I'm even more clever than my father. I managed to impregnate her before we even met," Edward whispered.

"No, Edward, you slept with her in the back room of the bar," Carlisle corrected him. "That's no more clever than impregnating a beautiful woman in a dark alley. You are not special. You are not some type of superhero."

"Damn, caught out by my own lies," Edward groaned. he snapped some photos of his parents holding his children then rushed to the door to help Bella come inside to feed the twins. She smiled and sat down gingerly in an armchair.

"How are you feeling?" Esme asked.

"Fine, except it still feels like I had a watermelon pulled out of a cut in my belly as well as the one I pushed out myself in that other area. I'm sure in time I will be able to sit without wincing."

Edward arranged pillows to support the two tiny bodies and helped her get the twins attached and feeding.

"They are doing amazingly well. It can be a bit of a one step forward, two steps back thing with prem twins but these two are the superheroes of the family," Carlisle announced. "They've thrived, and the only setback was Masen losing bodyheat again on his second day and we put him down Bella's front again and he warmed up fast. She's better than any incubator."

"He's just inherited his father's fascination for boobs," Bella replied. "Look at Emma, it's all business with her. Feed, move on. Masen wants to lie here all day. Talk about Edward's clone baby."

"Oh, I brought in Edward's hospital photo. Look at this. You won't need photos of Masen, we can just recycle Edward's photo album," Esme joked, handing the photo to Bella.

"Wow, look at that. Masen is your image, Edward. All arms and legs and skinny little frame."

"He'll fill out and grow into those feet," Esme promised."Though Edward still has a way to go before he grows into his feet, so maybe not."

"Way to make me feel like a freak, Mother," Edward mumbled.

"Same fingers, maybe he will play the piano," Bella said hopefully.

"Edward, you have told Bella about all your awards, surely. Edward plays the piano at concert standard, Bella. You must make him come and play for you in the music room. Where are you all going to live? In Charlie's house? You should take the piano, Edward and play for Bella and the babies."

"You should, Edward," Bella agreed. "You are such a man of surprises, what else don't I know about you yet?"

"Your father once 'arrested' him for stealing apples," Esme stated.

"Mom, I was ten."

"You knew Charlie?" Bella said in surprise. "How come I never met you?"

"I was always here. You just never noticed me," Edward replied.

"I noticed you long before you noticed me," Bella growled.

"First time I saw you was about four years ago, in the bar, with some grungy looking blond guy. I almost followed you to the ladies Room only Tanya had her claws firmly around my arm. There was that once only event that night, the wet Tshirt competition going on."

"Oh my God. I wasn't an entrant," Bella hastily replied. "Rose won and some big black haired loudmouthed guy insisted it was sexist that no men entered so they threw water over his head and gave him second prize. Damn, never ask Rose about that night, promise me."

"Um, that guy was Emmett," Edward answered.

Bella asked Esme to take Emma and Edward lifted Masen into his arms. "Give him to Carlisle. We need to talk," Bella said. "Excuse us, we will be right back."

She pulled Edward into her room and shut the door.

"Rose and Emmett fucked that night! They don't seem to remember. She had this stand up row with him about him ruining the competition when the bar manager announced they wouldn't be holding any further wet T shirt nights. He yelled back at her and called her some unflattering name and she dragged him out into the alley. God, Edward, she screeched about him for ages and we started driving to Port Angeles to a bar there because she never wanted to see him again. I really don't think they remember each other."

"I know I have photos somewhere of that night. I took photos of Emmett on stage , Rose must be in some of them, I never noticed. This is golden, we should have them enlarged and put them up at their wedding reception!"

"Edward, you never noticed Rosalie Hale and her 'girls' in a wet Tshirt in your own photos? You may not ever want to admit that to your brother, he will have you certified gay."

"I always preferred brunettes. You I would have remembered. Pity you hadn't entered that competition, Mrs Cullen. You owe me a show now seeing you deprived me of that sight back then."

Bella laughed. "Rose remembers the rest of that night. She has always said it was the night I should have dragged you into the back room and fucked you. I may have said I thought you were the most beautiful man I had ever seen. Oh, yeah, Riley was a little pissed that I said that. I had to act nice to him all night after that comment. He dumped me there and took off to God knows whose bed."

Edward took a lock of Bella's hair and placed it behind her ear.

"Tanya went missing that night. She had an 'emergency' at her work and left suddenly and said she ran out of gas and had to sleep in her office."

"Then I guess we know when those two started their affair or whatever you call it," Bella sighed.

"I wish we had met that night. This would all have happened anyway, just earlier. We could have just swapped partners and been happy. I wish we had. I didn't see you again until that night in the bar."

"I saw you, now and then, but always with Tanya. I saw her out alone, too, once Rose decided we should be attending our local bar and had forgotten why we ever started driiving to PA."

"I can't believe they forgot one another. I would never have forgotten you if you had taken me into that back room."

"I was too mousy back then. I would never have done it. I believed Riley and I would work things out and make a go of things."

"Emmett fucked a whole lot of women, I suppose it stands to reason he has forgotten half of them. I know a couple of times he fucked some girl for the second or third time and didn't know until she told him. Usually they slapped his face for not remembering. He has always drunk a lot of booze. But, shit, I can't believe he forgot Rose."

"And she forgot him. He was just one of many, she was wild back in the day. Sometimes she'd leave the bar and let some guy drive her home and reward him, then she'd head back after he went home from her place, and come back and hook up with someone else. "

"Oh, that was Emmett's favourite party trick. God, they are a match made in Heaven. I have to find those photos. They are probably stored at Mom's, I'll go look for them when the twins go down for their next sleep. You look tired, have a sleep yourself. I'll go settle our children and chase the overeager grand's away."

Bella lay down on the bed and tried to rest but her brain was buzzing and she kept laughing at what she now knew. Rose and Emmett would both be mortified. Maybe.

She and Rose may have vastly different numbers, with Bella's being two and Rose's being in the triple digits, but they had both ended up settled down with a Cullen boy. That was nice. They would be almost sisters even moreso now.

X~x~X

Bella awoke to the sight of Jacob entering her room with two teddy bears that were larger than her children.

"Hey, Loca, I saw the rugrats. Just one question. Are they both his? The boy, yes, obviously but the girl looks like you and there was that guy you hooked up with ...shit Bella. I just realised, you screwed two men the same night. That tourist at your house and the Doc at the bar. They could have each left a kid inside you."

Bella groaned and wondered if anyone else had ever been labelled a skank after not sleeping with anyone for three years and dry humping ONE man?

"Does Edward know about the tourist?" Jake asked.

"There was no tourist. It was Edward."

"Edward came to your house and fucked you then you met again in the bar and you fucked again?"

"Not that it's any of your business, but yes, I did," Edward said, walking in and sitting on the bed.

"Oh fine, cool. I just thought she broke the drought in a rather outrageous by Bella's standards, way. I just thought...I mean, you went home and left her with me. And never came back for ages. I thought you just used her but at work you always wanted me to talk about her."

"It was complicated, Jacob," Edward replied, taking Bella's hand.

"Soooo complicated," Bella agreed.


	10. Chapter 10

The Sperm Donor

Chapter 10

"Edward! God, help me!" Bella screamed , and her husband jumped out of bed, jerked out of the deepest sleep he had enjoyed in months to the fear and anticipationof whatever threatened his wife and family.

Bella ran past him into the nursery and he shook himself awake and followed her. She was standing beside the crib that housed their son, grabbing the sides and staring into it as if all her hopes and dreams had just been stolen away.

She cried outloud in relief and grabbed Masen to her chest. He had been woken much the same way Edward had and was now bellowing loudly as his mother bared a breast and attached him automatically.

"Is she okay? Is Emma alive?" she sobbed and Edward frowned and looked into the pink frilled crib at the pair of soft brown eyes staring at him as she tried to ingest her entire fist.

"Emma's fine. What's wrong?" he asked worriedly.

"They didn't wake up all night."

"Oh God, is that all?" he sagged in relief and and lifted their daughter into his arms. Bella sat down in the easy chair and Edward quickly changed the baby's diaper then handed her to her mother so she could claim the second full breast that was waiting to feed her.

Bella looked so scared he bent and kissed away her tears.

"They are fine, Love. We knew they would start sleeping through at some point."

"But not like this. They were up twice the night before, I thought the books said they cut out one feed at a time. How could they go from two feeds at night to none?"

"I guess Emma and Masen forgot to read the books," Edward sighed.

Emma was all about getting down to feeding quickly and efficiently as always so he took the opportunity to walk out and shower while Bella fed the twins.

He blinked at the clock and and looked outside the bathroom window. It was indeed, seventeen minutes past seven am, and they had all just experienced the first unbroken night in over three months.

He and Bella had adjusted to their cries around midnight then again at four am. Now they had finally slept through but all the benefit their father may have gained from that had been wiped away by being woken in a panic and he stood under the shower and let the water pour down over his head as well as his body.

He understood Bella's fears, she had never fully put Masen's almost loss behind her, despite her early braveness. Edward held her many nights as she cried out in her sleep and sobbed over their 'lost' son, who was sleeping peacefully, oblivious of the distress that had accompanied his arrival into the world.

"He's okay, he's alive, Bella," Edward always chanted as he held his terrified wife in his arms and kissed the face he loved with all of his heart. The stress and strain had to show itself some way and it appeared reliving those terrible moments waiting for their son to breathe in her dreams was to be the way.

He had always dreamed of having three children but there was no way he could ever put Bella through all that again. Two were good. One of each. It wasn't as if they had missed out on one gender by stopping now. He had a son he was proud of and loved dearly and a daughter who appeared to be the new ruler of his kingdom. Her kingdom, actually, she was the Queen and he was merely her slave. Who'd have thought being tiny and precious and not yet four months of age trumped being twenty eight and a doctor?

Edward hurried to the kitchen downstairs and made tea for Bella and a hot, strong coffee for himself. His wife enjoyed smelling the pungent brew as he sat beside her. She yearned to drink coffee again but the weak, half hearted strength that was all Carlisle recommended during breastfeeding was completely unsatisfactory to fulfil her cravings so she stuck with tea and breathing in the aroma of his perfect beverage instead.

It had become clear to him that almost all the sacrifices to be made had been in Bella's court.

It was she who now hid her body from him, and anyone else, hating the extra fat and skin left behind from the pregnancy. She tried to exercise but she was so tired, and Edward knew she was far more bothered by her new body than he would ever be. Even her angry red stretchmarks were just a reminder of what she had gone through to give life to his children, to him.

To her, they were ugly marks that meant she would never wear a bikini again. Not that her 'fat belly' made that an option anyway.

Edward had asked his mother to talk to her but as Esme had come out of her pregnancies unmarked, it had the opposite effect to what he had hoped.

It was unfair, she had given up all those months to carry these babies around inside her, and keep them safe and she had created life. Yet her reward was to be marked and stretched beyond recovery.

The twins were asleep again when he returned upstairs and Bella was in the shower. He set her cup down beside her side of the bed and sipped his coffee, trying to ignore the quiet sobbing from inside the bathroom.

Bella would come to terms with this, he hoped. She had to.

His reassurances that he loved her more than ever for giving him these children seemed to have no effect, she still hated her body and kept it covered at all times. The fact her father had seen her war wounds was bad enough. She hid them from Edward and locked the bathroom door whenever there was a chance he could walk in on her accidentally.

Maybe when she weaned the twins and could go to the gym and at least tone up, things would be better for her. Edward would never expect her to regain her pre pregnancy body, that was more than would be physically possible unless the marks disappeared as well as the padding, and that was still one thing science could not fully erase.

He knew she used an expensive cream 'guaranteed' to fade and make them 'almost invisible' but clearly it had yet to perform it's promised magic. And it probably never would.

If anything worked half as well as they claimed, why would anyone have stretchmarks? Yet so many did.

He sighed and made the bed up, and his wife finally emerged, avoiding eye contact as she reached for her cup and gratefully slurped down her fast cooling tea.

"Sorry, I just panicked. I thought they would do what the books said and drop one feed at a time. I feared..."

"I know. Maybe it was just a one off? We could be back to be woken up twice again tonight. Maybe they were just extra tired from the outing yesterday?"

"You don't think we shouldn't have gone, do you?" Bella asked worriedly. She was stuck here at home alone so much, he had thought it a great idea to go visit his parents and let them take over everything but the feeding for a day.

He had hoped Bella would relax and enjoy the freedom but she had insisted on helping as well, and she had prepared lunch for them all while his mother was bathing the twins with Carlisle's help.

So, Bella had merely swapped one set of chores for another. Edward had tried to take over, any idiot could reheat a quiche and prepare a salad but the careless use of his words had set her off crying.

"I didn't mean you are an idiot. I just meant even a useless husband can make lunch," he had assured her.

His father shook his head at him and Edward knew this was just his lot in life until her hormones balanced out again and let her regain feeling like she was back in charge of her own body and mind.

His mother had tried to help, distracting Bella with photos she had unearthed of him and Emmett as newborns, but all Bella could see was Esme holding the baby, her body already slim again even before she left the hospital.

Bella had blushed and teared up when she caught Edward watching the look of envy in her eyes.

"It doesn't matter. I will always love you, Bella. Always," he had promised, reading her mind.

"You won't. Not when I'm stuck wearing some granny one piece even if I do ever lose this flab," she had cried. "Not when the beach is full of pretty young girls with perfect bodies."

"Bella, the beach has always been full of those. I love you, not some measure of perfection magazines flaunt and tell us is how all women should look. You are real,you went through so much to have Emma and Masen. You wouldn't change that, if you could turn the clock back, would you? You'd still have them?"

"Of course," she answered, shocked he would even think she could chose otherwise.

She didn't blame the babies, she blamed herself. She had eaten often and never counted calories while pregnant, only ever thinking she had to 'feed' the developing babies and her own hunger.

Now she saw Rose carefully consider every mouthful of food that entered her mouth and she judged her own behaviour and found it had been reckless.

Rose was carrying one single fetus and she ate exactly the calorie intake recommended, not a single mouthful more. And she did pregnancy yoga and gym classes. Her belly was still unnoticeable to anyone who didn't know. She looked maybe a tad swollen on the abdomen, nothing more.

Like someone who had been on vacation and let their exercise programme slip for a few weeks. Not anything like Bella had looked at this stage of her own pregnancy.

It didn't make any difference if Edward pointed out the vast difference between one passenger and two, Bella still 'knew' she had not thought ahead to the days after the birth.

It was made even more difficult because Bella was still breastfeeding, and had to consume a lot of calories still, to keep up her supply but she refused to wean them just to suit her own vanity. They needed mother's milk, they'd been through enough arriving early and having those six weeks in hospital afterwards.

Carlisle had cleared them to leave earlier but Bella had been exceptionally nervous about leaving behind competent staff who knew what to do in any situation. Even having a doctor for a husband, with six more weeks leave approved by his father despite the fact he had not worked a day since the births. Or even those few weeks before delivery.

Her father-in-law had deemed the time off necessary for his son in the circumstances and promised Bella that Edward had already made up for most of the hours because of the extra shifts he had always done 'before'. Before, meaning when he was with Tanya and had little to go home to, so he had happily covered anyone who needed time off.

He'd liked being at the hospital more than he'd liked being with Tanya, a sure sign he should have ended things with her a very long time before he had.

Nowadays, he was struggling to stay at work for his entire shift each day and was forever calling or texting Bella, checking everything was okay in his absence.

She was coping well with that side of things. She had her system, her routine down pat. The babies complied and fed on schedule, especially Emma, who seemed to think three hours between feeds was carved in stone, and she fed quickly and settled again afterwards. Masen was the opposite. He would stretch any feed out as long as he could, gazing into his Mother's eyes, hypnotizing her just as Edward could in a single glance.

"Those wicked emerald eyed boys will be the death of me," he had heard her sigh. Somehow they were more compelling than other eyes and Edward had enjoyed the influence his had always held over her, but now Masen was doing it as well, and it seemed a little unfair.

Many times he'd come home to find his wife asleep in the chair with his son propped on a pillow, still idly sucking on her breast despite the fact he had long emptied the milk supply.

"You are definitely a typical Cullen," Edward had smirked, putting the infant into his crib and carrying his wife to bed. She would waken and search in panic for the small warm body her arms had been holding and Edward would have to reassure her all was well.

Much as he accepted his children did benefit greatly from breastfeeding, he still wanted those breasts to be his again.

He knew it was selfish but having them exposed yet untouchable reminded him so much of long nights when his lips had covered a cherry pink nipple as he gently invaded her body, enjoying the taste of her as he made love and visited Paradise.

He missed Paradise.

It had been his home address for so much of the pregnancy as Bella's overwhelming desires had ruled her actions, now it was vastly different. Now those same hormones seemed to think their job was to make her cry and keep her scared of his reaction when he did get to see and touch her new body. They had only made love once.

Carlisle had been the instigator. He had commented to Bella that the best way to know if 'everything' was back to normal would be to check by giving it a test drive, so she had allowed Edward back home the night before her check up.

Everything had seemed wonderful, perfect, worth waiting for, to him but she had failed to enjoy the experience and since then, she pulled away when his kisses got too passionate and his hands tried to move to beneath her clothing instead of staying above.

"Edward, I have to feed the twins soon," she would say, even if there was still two hours on the clock.

He hadn't pushed her, she had been through so much. She would revert back one day, to that funny, happy, sexy little minx he had known and adored to play with.

This was just another test of his love and he didn't resent the loss of sexual intimacy, but he did miss it. The connection between them was as strong as ever, and he would literally die for her in an instant, but it didn't mean he could just forget the joy a full night of love making had always given him and he did want that back.

Carlisle warned him this would be the most testing time he would experience in marriage. Until Bella was comfortable in her new skin, she had to be treated like a precious porcelain figure and treasured and loved without any expectations of him getting something in return.

"She will click back, have no doubt. Maybe not until she weans them and her hormones even out again, but it will happen. Edward, you bypassed the period of self love most boys go through in their teens by always having so many willing girlfriends ready to take that chore over for you, maybe now is the time to satisfy your own needs yourself."

He had complied, his unaltered libido was his problem, not hers and he took a lot of showers.

A lot of showers.

In the downstairs bathroom if she was upstairs, there was no way he wanted to add to her already large amount of guilt at the way things were between them. His hand was soon as familiar as hers had been during the 'drought' before the births, when she had insisted he still got a release in any way he could, even if she could not have the favour returned.

Edward smiled at Bella and held his arms out to her and she paused for a moment then walked to him and sat on his lap.

"I love you, Bella Cullen," he whispered in her ear and she relaxed briefly and lay her head on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry I'm such a mess. I wish I could just return to normal and be here for you. I miss us, Edward. I know I have to get over all this self doubt and self hate and I am trying."

"Bella, I will always love you. You don't need to change to make me happy. I will always love and want and need you. You are different now but you are better, not worse. You have been through a war and come out marked and I love you for surviving the battle. You gave me two children and you saved my son when there was no hope. Do you think I'd leave you over a few red marks on your body? They are nothing, Bella, nothing but a badge of honour. I just wish you could see them that way. Had I been to war and come home scarred, would you turn away from me?"

"Never," she gasped and held him tightly.

"Then allow me to love you, Baby. I miss us too. I want you so badly, but I will wait until you are ready."

Bella nodded and kissed her husband before standing and waking downstairs to begin the first load of washing for the day.

Edward kissed her again as he left for the hospital and she sat down and called Alice.

Their futures were in her hands and if the choice was to lose Edward over her own cowardice and vanity, then she truly would despise herself.

"Hey, Alice. I'm going to ask Esme to come babysit. Feel like a shopping spree? I need some new lingerie."

"Sure, Bella. That would be great. Are we taking Rose?"

"I think she has a shift," Bella replied, checking the roster Edward always pinned on the Noticeboard. "Yes, she's on until four, and I need to do this now before I chicken out."

Esme was delighted to leave her second in charge at her Interior Design business holding the reins for a while and she hurried over to her daughter-in-law's house and rushed inside.

"They are asleep and there's expressed milk in the freezer if they need it, and Masen is a little unsettled," Bella explained as Alice appeared at the door.

"Bella, just go. I have done this before. I can unfreeze milk and test the temperature before I feed them," Esme assured the girl.

It was so hard for Bella to walk to the car and leave the babies but Edward was her priority today, well, tonight. He was being so patient and she knew every word he had said he did truly mean. If he ever went running into some other pair of arms, it would only be because she gave him no other choice.

If her flaws were acceptable and irrelevant to him, then she had to man up and accept them herself.

She would never have the body that the girl at the wheel of the car had, again, but Alice could be one of the unlucky ones as well. Who knows? Maybe pregnancy and childbirth would be as harsh on her body as it had been on Bella's.

The trip to Port Angeles was boring, almost, and the gentle music soon had her drowsy and she slept as Alice drove. It was unlike Alice to be so quiet but Bella didn't notice and she slept dreamlessly and woke when her friend pulled into the carpark at the back of the store.

"Come on, we have flimsy, sexy clothing to pay much too much for. What are you after? Edward has always kept you so well supplied, I am surprised you need more."

"Not so much more, as different," Bella replied.

"What do you mean?" Alice asked, picking up a barely there black lace concoction that hugged the breasts then divided and revealed the abdomen and showed off the tiny matching thong.

"That's exactly what I mean," Bella said. "I have a dozen of those, in every colour but now I need things that hide, not expose. I want my abdomen covered."

"Bella, what's going on?" Alice asked worriedly.

"I have these marks...on my belly...they are hideous, Alice. They are making me avoid making love to Edward."

"You haven't made love again? Since the births?"

"Once," Bella shrugged. "I insisted on a pitch black bedroom and no touching except in places where it was unavoidable. They feel bad, they don't just look bad. I don't want Edward to be repulsed by my body."

"Ha, like that could happen," Alice replied dryly. "He would love you no matter how you looked. He is so damned devoted to you and so overboard in love, he makes me wish Jasper was half as enchanted by me."

"Jasper loves you, what do you mean?" Bella replied worriedly.

Alice handed her friend a selection of belly hiding black and red lace outfits.

"Look, these have all the emphasis on boobs, he will never lower his eyes down one inch once he sees what is peeking out of the peekaboo holes in the bust," Alice said, pulling her to the fitting room. "Not to mention the lack of fabric in the panties. I've never worn crotchless panties myself, but I guess a man could find them fun. All that lace to drag against them as they..."

"Lay off the sexy talk. I want to save those reactions until tonight if you don't mind," Bella warned and she turned away and stripped off her frock.

Alice's eyes caught hers in the mirror and Bella hastily pulled the lace over her head and hid her body from her friend.

"Bella, they aren't bad. Nothing like hideous," Alice said, turning her face to face.

Alice lifted the fabric and traced her finger on a stretchmark.

"I would swap bodies if I could."

"You wouldn't, don't be ridiculous," Bella growled, looking at the smooth, unmarred surface of Alice's skin and wishing they could indeed swap, while the girl was clearly having some sort of breakdown. Nobody in their right mind would want her scarred belly in exchange for that perfection.

"I can't have kids, Bella. We just got the test results back. My belly will never display the proof that I loved my husband so much, I sacrificed my body to put a child into his arms."

"But there are so many things they can do nowadays. Surely with fertility treatment... I mean, we have our own clinic. There must be something..."

"I have a very small, miss-shapen uterus that could not hold a pregnancy. I have deformed ovaries, and few eggs left already. My hormone levels are so fucked I probably rarely ovulate, which is just as well seeing any pregnancy would be really short lived. I would swap bodies with you in a millisecond. I would be proud of those scars because they would brand me a real woman."

"You are a real woman, you don't have to have babies to prove that," Bella replied.

"And do you listen when Edward tells you these scars don't matter? The truth is irrelevant if it's not what you believe yourself."

"But there must be some way...Carlisle must have an answer or know someone who could help you."

Alice shrugged. "A surrogate is the only answer but the whole idea of some stranger carrying Jazz and my child, and having to trust her...I mean, why would anyone do that, Bella? Who would carry a baby for nine months knowing it wasn't theirs from the start? Knowing after all the sickness and the stretchmarks and the birth trauma, that they got nothing out of it? Just a strangers baby that was handed over with a quick thanks and then it's gone and you would never know how that baby was raised and anyway, it wasn't even partly yours so you have no rights even if you bond and change your mind and want to keep it.

She could run away at any point, if she felt like that. Go somewhere new and have our baby and keep it for herself. This is bad enough, knowing I can never give Jazz a son, how would it be if we knew we had one out there, lost? Never knowing where he was, if he was even still alive?"

Bella bit her lower lip to prevent herself speaking.

She wanted to volunteer and promise she would carry their baby and hand it over but she could not do that without talking to Edward first. It wasn't as if Alice's child could do more than add a few new striations to this crisscrossed map of lines on her belly. It couldn't marr her for life, the twins had already taken care of that.

"Try yours on, I like the baby blue set," Bella said.

Alice slipped the tiny garment on and twirled, making what fabric there was swirl out around her back, and expose her flat, perfect stomach that Bella saw in a new light now.

She wouldn't swap, not if it meant the twins would never have been born.

She couldn't believe her own stupidity. Edward was right. She was being vain and ridiculous and if her body did not bother him, why on Earth was she making this fuss and keeping him at arm's length? She had always loved making love with him and she was denying them both that pleasure for no good reason. It wasn't as if a period of abstinence would restore her skin back to smooth and unmarked again.

Bella paid for her purchases and grabbed the bag and Alice waited and held the door open for her.

The babies were both alive and sleepy and had clearly not even noticed she was gone. Esme had Emma held up against her shoulder and Masen was blinking drowsily but he let out a yell as he smelt his mother and she scooped him up and pulled her top open.

"I fed Emma a bottle but His Highness refused to suck and preferred to wait for the real thing," Esme said as Alice touched the back of the baby and smiled sadly at Emma's face.

Esme handed her the infant and Alice walked to the window and held the baby in her arms as a few silent tears escaped and travelled down her cheeks.

Bella switched Masen to the other overfull side and watched Alice and knew she would somehow convince Edward it was what she had to do.

She needed to help Alice become a mother.

No yet, her body was already booked for the next few months, but before she considered whether or not she and Edward would have another baby together, she wanted to hand over a little boy or girl to Alice's waiting arms.

She knew she could never be generous enough to supply the egg and make it a do-it-yourself conception with Jasper's sperm alone making the baby theirs. It had to be their embryo. It had to be Alice's egg and that meant high tech and medical help and drugs and maybe disappointment at first but she would agree to say, three tries. Even if all three failed, maybe she would extend the offer, it depended how things were at the time.

She and Alice had been friends forever and she knew had the situation been reversed, Alice would do it for her.

X~x~X

Edward arrived home to a hot, tasty meal and sat down opposite his wife. He knew immediately something was up. Things had changed and after he had barely finished eating, his plate was gone and the dessert spoon ignored.

"Come upstairs, the twins are settled for the night," Bella informed him. "We can eat the chocolate mousse later."

Bella was prioritising something above chocolate?

He raised an eyebrow.

He paused on the landing to check in the nursery.

Two full bellied babies snored quietly, snug and happy in slumber.

He walked into the bathroom and stripped off his clothes, aware Bella was changing in the walk in closet. He caught a glimpse of red lace and an expanse of thigh as she pulled on an interesting looking thong and he quickly showered and returned to their bedroom.

"Dim the lights," Bella pleaded, not yet ready to expose all to the harsh reality of full fluorescence.

Edward quickly adjusted the switch on the wall and walked towards his wife as she lay back, nervously, watching his face as he climbed into bed beside her.

He touched the fabric and stroked her breasts through it.

"You look amazing," he said, "Whatever this cost was well worth the money."

He nuzzled her neck and felt her lower her defences and let her body respond to his, like it always had in the past.

He slid a hand tentatively down and rubbed the mound that he had missed touching so much and she moaned a little and arched her body closer.

Much as he wanted to strip the lace covering away, she had bought this, and maybe there was a reason. Maybe she needed to be clothed and to cover herself at first. He didn't want to take away her security blanket, so he slid his hand inside the panties and rejoiced when he found the missing crotch section.

God yes.

He couldn't wait and she was already wet and willing so he slid himself inside her and leaned over, smiling at the pink nipples exposed by the lacy pattern of the bra top.

"Bella, was this on special? There seems to be a few faults. A few missing sections," he said thickly , growling as the lace dragged against his length as he pulled almost all the way back out.

It seemed all good things did come to him who waited and he hoped the drought was truly behind them because he missed anything he had before and was no longer allowed when it came to Bella. He was greedy, he wanted all of her, and wanted it freely given, like this.

He had never nagged or argued or tried to guilt trip and manipulate her into giving in. Making love to a woman who resented the invasion was something he had left behind when he ended his last relationship and he did not want Bella to ever morph as Tanya had.

He wanted her to remain happy, willing, always wanting him to bring her pleasure and the patience had paid off.

As their bodies exploded together, both rather sooner they they wanted, he wrapped himself around her and lay behind her happy body and breathed into her ear.

"That was awesome. I loved being back inside you, Baby."

"Then do it again," she replied, further proof she was the same Bella.

She pushed her backside into his pelvis and he instantly hardened and pushed inside her from the back.

God, yes.

The night somehow continued along the same lines, with Bella wanting more, and offering herself from every angle. Up on all fours, with him thrusting inside from above her, catching her watching him in the mirror, which only made him thrust even harder as he watched her face reflected in the glass.

Any fears he may have entertained for even a single second that she was doing this only to please him were dissipated. Her eyes always spoke the truth and she was as into this as he was, as she tightened and shuddered yet again around him and pulled him over the edge as well.

He got lost at some point, with the rush of feelings and the complete sensation of joy that overwhelmed him. His Bella was back and he was home and complete again.

Much as he hoped one day she would want another baby, he was conflicted at the idea of risking this connection being lost. He wouldn't want to risk anything ever keeping them apart. He needed all of her to feel complete himself and he was heady with delight as she fell asleep in his arms.

In the morning, he had woken before her and checked the twins were merely changing their sleeping pattern and hadn't expired in the darkness.

"They are fine. They will waken soon, so we have to be quick," he grinned as he palmed her mound and it rose to meet him.

"Edward, last night..." Bella murmured.

"What about last night? It was the best night in my life, since all the other best nights," he answered her.

"I loved everything you did. We need to get back to doing that often," she said, making him harden.

"Yes, Baby, we do. We made a good start, didn't we?"

She kissed his lips.

"I need a bathroom break, be right back," she replied and slipped from his grasp. She was back in a flash and he immediately started again, afraid their time was probably very limited.

Suddenly he wanted something else, something different.

"Bella, may I kiss your belly?" he asked and she bit her lip and nodded.

Edward peeled back the lace and kissed every red line on her skin and lay his head down against the place his babies had grown inside.

"Thank you for our children. They are such a precious gift," he stated, gently tracing his finger on her belly. "They are miracles. How they came about, how they were always mine. We were fated to be together and they are further proof, if we ever needed more," he sighed.

"I'm sorry I tried to shut you out, Edward. I know your love is deeper than the surface of my skin."

"Just trust me to love you forever, because I will, my Bella. Nothing could ever tear us apart," he promised her.

He meant every word and he kissed her again as the first cry sounded.

"I'll get them, you may want to not feed in that outfit," he grinned.

She smiled and peeled the red garment from her skin and waited, naked but for the red crotchless panties.

Emma was quick and efficient as always and Bella had no desire to prolong Masen's feed today so she handed him to his father and Edward rubbed his back and took him back to the nursery as well.

Bella was rolling the red panties down as he returned and he grabbed her hand.

"Leave them on. I like the feeling...the lace, against me."

"Alice said you would," she sighed with a grin and started to pull them up, back into place. He was inside her from behind before she even let the waistband go.

His hands slid to the front of her body and caressed the emptied breasts, playing gently with each nipple.

"Welcome home again, Edward," she smiled and he thrust inside then dragged out slowly and bit his lip as the lace tantalised his erection.

He would never get enough of her, never.

But he would die trying.


	11. Chapter 11

The Sperm Donor

Chapter 11

The twin's first birthday party meant more to Bella than just the anniversary of their arrival into the world and their lives. It also meant it was time to raise the subject of surrogacy with Edward.

If she carried Alice and Jasper's baby this year, she could be ready for their own next addition the following year. It wasn't as if the process would be prolonged by sleepless nights or breastfeeding after the delivery this time.

It would be Alice's problem to find a way to nourish the infant, not hers. Though she had read even a few days of the early colostrum was worthwhile providing, even if the mother didn't intend establishing proper breastfeeding. Maybe she should do that, there was no point risking the health of the baby.

The house was full of noise and people and discarded wrapping paper and babies played on rugs and were scooped into arms to be kissed, and handed gifts.

Emma was wowing her audience with her first steps, shaky as they were. Masen was looking perplexed, no doubt wondering why his sister would even want to walk when there were always willing arms around to carry them everywhere.

Alice and Jasper were sitting together, but apart from the others. Just watching.

Rose was fussing endlessly over Britney or Bianca or whatever they finally would decide was their baby's name. They'd officially named her Rosalie Lillian after her mother but they never intended calling her that. The time limit had expired so she been given her mother's name as a stopgap while they kept finding and discarding every name ever used.

Emmett wanted 'something hot and sexy' which Rose had explained loudly was completely inappropriate and asked him why he would want his daughter having a name boys would fantasize about when she was older.

Bella had the feeling the baby would be named Maud or Doris if Rose had her way. Not one of the names that frequented the 'call me, just $5.95 per text reply' in the back columns of the newspapers and magazines.

Edward was sitting at his piano, checking it was still in tune and he started playing a mix of old songs that he knew his parents liked.

"Roxanne,you don't have to put on the red light," he crooned and Emmett air punched.

"Roxanne. Roxy. Perfect. You like that name, Baby Girl?"

"Oh yes please, name our daughter after a prostitute," Rose growled. She handed the infant to Emmett and wandered out to the kitchen where Bella and Esme were adding the final touches to the birthday cakes.

One thing Bella hated was how some parents made twins share everything. If they had been a year apart, she would have made them each a cake, so she started as she meant to go on.

Emma's cake was a vision of pink lacy icing and sugar flowers. Masen's had small eatable racing cars on top. He was already car mad but then, his father did take him to showrooms and ask his opinion about which car he should buy next.

And Emmett was always playing XBox racing games with Masen balanced on his lap. The boy was being brainwashed.

Rose's figure was already perfect again and Bella had even seen her in a bikini and had a brief flashback to her earlier fears but it had passed. Although blessed with an admirable rack, Rose's breasts had proved unsuited to breastfeeding and she had never produced a single drop of milk, to her immense disappointment.

She wanted to feed the baby herself and had planned ahead and bought all sorts of pretty blouses with secret openings and all for nothing. The baby was blossoming on formula but Bella felt a little superior when she scooped Masen up for a quick top up and felt her friend's envy radiate across the room. It seemed they all had flaws of one kind or another.

The day she and Edward had introduced the twins to beakers had been the last time Emma had fed from her breasts. The little girl was definitely one of the most stubborn and determined variety and she demanded all her fluids from a lidded cup now.

Masen had been a good little Mommy's boy and spurned the cup and had cried until Bella happily gave in and fed him naturally instead. She supposed she would have to wean him to even start considering the surrogacy but the idea of cutting her son off before he was ready was making her reconsider her options.

Maybe one more year before she signed up for another fat belly.

Maybe he wouldn't be done by his own choice before he turned two, and she could delay discussing this issue with Edward a little longer.

She was very unsure of how he was going to react. On one hand, he loved their friends and wanted to see Alice and Jasper as happy as they were themselves. He knew they were having problems and he had retested Alice himself and sadly agreed the specialist had been one hundred per cent right.

She would never carry a fetus long enough for it to be viable. Her uterus was divided into three horns, like a jester's hat. It was something he had never seen before and Carlisle was captivated by anything different and he had researched for months, trying to find other women with similar irregularities. He wanted to find out if any of them had ever successfully completed a pregnancy, even though Alice's other problems were probably insurmountable anyway.

He was quietly confident he could get her a baby, but not by any natural means. It would take heroic strategies to achieve her goal, that was for sure.

Bella had listened in on conversations between father and son as Carlisle came up with suggestions and partial possible solutions and so far, they were always back to the obvious and only answer.

Someone else had to carry the baby.

Bella was sure Edward had no clue what she was planning. He had spoken of commercial surrogacy options, where ways were found around the current laws so the surrogate could be paid a decent wage for her nine months work and not just 'reasonable medical expenses covered'.

He was convinced if the woman was paid enough, he could find someone willing to comply without risk of them absconding mid term, and he had a plan of his own.

Emmett and Edward went outside to man the barbecue grill and Bella took the meat out to them. Jasper was standing by, a little distant, cradling a beer in his hand. She knew he felt left out when this pair started crowing about their perfect offspring and there really was no shutting them up.

"Roxy is the perfect name. How do I convince Rose?" Emmett asked his brother.

"Don't ask me. I never had a say in my children's names and they turned out to be named the names I would have wanted anyway. Had I known."

"Fuck, bro, that must have been so weird, not knowing until Masen was born. That sneaky little baby girl would take after Bella and give you no clue. What if he had as well? Have you ever thought of that? If Masen had looked like Bella as well, neither of you would have even put it all together and known they were truly your kids. How crazy would that have been?" he pondered. "Unless one of them needed a kidney or something, you could have spent your whole lives looking warily around for the 'real' donor. Shit, man, you sure get into some fucked up situations."

"Everything worked out perfectly, may I remind you," Edward growled.

"Yeah, but only because you have the freakish hair and you inflicted it on poor little Masen. If he had gotten normal hair, you would still be thinking you were the step-daddy, whatever."

"Yes, thanks, Emmett. It's in the past now, let it go."

"It's just beyond belief that Rosie managed to steal your sperm when there were two other donors that day."

"Not really. Mine was the last deposit, so she had the best chance of keeping the swimmers alive. If she had taken a sample from either other donors earlier in the day, they would have been dead before she injected them into Bella."

"Do you ever wonder, Edward?" Emmett pushed on.

"Wonder what?"

"Well, you know your swimmers work but you don't know if they would work if you did the regular method of knocking her up. Maybe they need the guidance of being injected in her with a syringe."

"Emmett, I think if they found their way inside Bella's uterus and fertilized two eggs, under less than ideal conditions, I can be pretty sure any lot deposited normally would work even better."

"What? Like triplets?"

Bella choked on her own saliva.

"Don't even say things like that in jest, either of you."

"You aren't up for more babies, Bella?" Emmett asked jovially.

"I don't know. Maybe, one day. If your brother can control himself and only fertilise one egg next time."

"You never explained. Did you two fuck at the bar or not? Wouldn't that be why there were twins? One from the syringe and one from Edward's own personal 'syringe' as well?" Emmett smirked.

"We didn't. Well, we did officially, but no, we didn't," Bella replied.

"Fuck, you did literally just bump nasties? With clothing in place? Not impale her at all? I kind of thought we all gave that up when we turned eighteen. Or fifteen, in my case."

"Or thirteen?" Edward stated, glaring at Emmett.

"Oh, that hardly counts. That was my first time. It lasted like..." He paused and looked at his brother and Jasper. "I mean, sure, it lasted ages, I was good from Day One."

Edward laughed.

"Don't lie about sex you had within hearing distance of Jasper and I. We both know you came the second you got inside her. 'Oh Emmett, aren't you supposed to push in and out a few times before that happens?' Remember, Jazz?"

Jasper laughed and joined in finally.

"Yes, his instant release didn't impress whats-her-name, did it? Who was she again?"

Emmett shook his head. "Fucked if I can remember."

"So much for treasuring your first time," Edward laughed as Bella rolled her eyes at them and returned inside.

"Did you treasure yours?" Jasper asked Edward.

"Hm, well,I appreciated her at the time and I remember the girl in question, so I'm one up on him."

"Who was it?" Emmett asked.

"That would be known as none of your business and I will never tell. There's no point talking about this shit anyway. We are all happily matched up and settled down. The past is the past."

"And of course, the ladies never think about who cashed their cards for them," Emmett snickered. "Isn't it meant to be a really big deal with girls? Don't they remember that fucker forever?"

Edward had never thought about that. If it was true, nobody would ever remember him as their first. He had never been with a virgin. It had seemed like too much work and risk of the girl attaching more importance than he had felt himself so he had deliberately only targeted girls he knew had been broken in already.

Anyway, had he ever had that privilege, he only would have wanted it with Bella.

He decided it was time to take control of the banter.

"Emmett, as everyone knows, Bella and I connected pretty damn fast. Maybe not our very first time but not long afterwards. How long did it take you to connect with Rose?"

"Oh, first time, for sure."

"So, when was your first time again?" Edward asked.

"A week after we met in the bar and she asked me to dance."

"She actually asked me," Jasper interjected with a laugh. "You just thrust your intended hook up for the night onto me and grabbed Rose yourself."

"Yes, well, you were hot for Alice."

"And you and Rose connected immediately? Your first time together?"

"Yes, I said so," Emmett replied loudly.

"Then you never connected like that with any other girls?"

"Nope, never."

"Not even that girl with the black hair that you asked Jasper to give you space for the night, in your shared apartment, for the first time?"

"No, that was a total washout. I thought I liked her but once we fucked, I just wanted her to leave."

"And the second time, with that other girl who Jasper cleared the space for? Kate?"

"Too mouthy. She kept shouting instructions at me. 'Do this, do that, no, over here, more to the right. ' Put me right off her."

"What about that girl at the bar that won the wet Tshirt competition? The one who pulled you out into the alley?"

Emmett paused and frowned, staring into the beer bottle.

"Okay, she was different. I could have gone a few more rounds with her. She was pretty damned hot. I mean, she was screeching at me about what a jerk I was, spoiling everything, but she was very good at what she did. I like a girl who isn't too proud to take the lead and just wants to fuck her passion out on you. Love, hate, it's all the same emotion. Yeah, I would have to say, had she stuck around, there was a chance. We had chemistry."

"I found some photos of the two of you," Edward smirked.

"Yeah? Show them to me, when Rose isn't around. Hey, I just had a thought. Now I do have a 'one that got away'. I never considered I did before."

"You could name the baby after her," Jasper suggested.

Edward bit his lip. Yeah, he could. He had, already. Rosalie Lillian.

He plated the steaks and the men headed inside. After they finished eating, Bella pulled Edward aside.

"I asked Rose, she remembers 'that guy' fondly, surprisingly enough. Said she hated his shaven head, she prefers men with loose black curls these days."

"Mom hated the whole hairless stage too. He looked like a soldier in his own eyes."

"Naturally. Now, how are we playing this?"

"I want to make him sweat. Watch his face."

Bella returned and served desserts and Edward came downstairs waving a couple of photos in his hand.

"Hey, Emm, I found the photos of that chick who banged you at the bar, that we were talking about."

All eyes looked at Edward, and all brows bar Bella's frowned at the unsuitability of the conversation.

"Wow, she was hot, you were right. Look Bella, isn't she hot?" Edward asked.

"God yes. Hotter than Rose," Bella replied, examining the photos up close. "Great tits. Lovely figure, best I've seen."

"He should have hung on to her," Edward agreed.

Rosalie stood and grabbed the photos. "Fucking Hell, Swan. Like we need to see who Emmett used to..."

She started laughing and Emmett looked anxiously at Edward then Bella, finally Rose.

"Do you know her?" he asked, his voice scared.

"Fuck yeah. They are right, she is the hottest chick to come out of this town."

"No, Rosie, you are. Hands down. Whoever she is, she is dogs meat compared to you," he whined.

"No, Emmett, she is gorgeous," Rose growled and handed him the photos.

Emmett blushed then paled then looked around at the others.

"But...but..."

"Yes, she does indeed have a nice butt. A perfect butt," Rose replied.

"But Rose, how can..."

"Don't ask me. I hated that haircut, by the way. Nothing to grab onto when you went down South."

Alice fanned herself with her hand. "Boy, I am starting to regret not using that alley myself. How come we never made use of that alley, Jazz?"

"We suffered from something known as a touch of class, Alice. No bed, no bonking. We had standards, not like some. Any surface, even if it was a brick wall in an alley."

"We have to do that again. For old times sake," Rose laughed, tucking the pictures down her bra. "I don't suppose you followed us outside and snapped some action shots? Pity."

X~x~X

"I cannot believe it's been a whole year since they arrived," Bella said happily as she and Edward lay in bed, awaiting the signal the babies were awake and wanted to be gotten up.

They were both good sleepers and liked sleeping in, which was always appreciated by their parents.

"One year and one day. Bella, we need to talk. How attached are you to this house?"

"I know what you are thinking. It's shrunken in size since the twins arrived. The nursery is way too small now with two cribs squeezed in but I don't like the idea of moving them downstairs into the guestroom."

"Dan was in yesterday and he happened to mention the two blocks of land next door are coming onto the market. I was wondering if you like the idea of buying them both and building a big, family home on them, and keeping this as a guest house?

It would always come in handy. Somewhere to send Masen when he decides he wants a drum kit. Somewhere for Emma to hold her teenage sleepovers, so she has space but we are right next door? There's a thousand reasons it would make sense. You could escape to write when the main house is full of kids and their friends.

And we might decide to have another baby one day. We need more space."

"That sounds ideal. Do it," she replied.

Butterflies fluttered in her stomach.

"Edward, speaking of babies."

He grinned. "Are you already thinking you might want another one?" he asked.

"Sure, I think we will, one day. But I want you to consider something. Alice has always been my best friend."

"Okay."

"She needs a surrogate."

Edward nodded then sat up.

"No, Bella. No way. Not after the delivery you went through already. If we want another child, and something goes wrong with Alice's baby's birth, we might not be able to have our own."

"Edward, I really want to do this for her."

"Will you do it if I don't agree?"

"No, of course not. It's a big commitment, I would need you on my side."

"Rose could do it. She managed to have a perfect pregnancy and a three push delivery. And she and Emmett aren't even sure they want another kid of their own. This one has made them think twice. Apparently neither of them realised how time consuming babies are."

"Well, when you deduct the hours Emmett works out, as well as his job, and his drinking time and his morning and evening run, I guess most of his day was already booked up. And Rosalie always leaves the baby with Esme when she goes anywhere. That baby has never been inside a shop."

"So, there you go. Rose could do it, and I could imagine her just handing the newborn over and getting someone to bring in her nail technician to fix her nails before she swanned out of the hospital without a backward glance."

"What do you mean? I would hand the baby over. It wouldn't be a problem if I carried it."

"Bella, you would bond with it while it was inside you. You would. Think about it. Even if it's their embryo, you would have to change your lifestyle in some ways, for it's own good, while pregnant. No more feeding Masen, no carrying him around on your hip. He would have to be rudely pushed into toddlerhood, and you would become attached to the baby inside you.

Then even if you hand it over like you say, you know you'd always be watching to make sure Alice treated the baby exactly as you treat our twins. If she ever got irritable with it or complained about the lack of sleep, you would be thinking she doesn't deserve what you did. It's human nature. Never borrow from or lend money to your friends, and never carry their kid."

"So, you won't even think about it?"

"I have. I'm not stupid, I know you. I knew from the start you would want to do this. I'm asking you not to."

"But if we waited another year, Masen could have weaned himself and I'd be prepared mentally.."

"Sweetheart, Alice's eggs may not have another year. She is having them collected in three months time, after the hormone regime is done. We need as many eggs as possible. Her own hormones are decreasing daily.

If they do a attempt at implanting without freezing the embryos first, it has to happen soon. Too soon. I will find them a surrogate. I have a couple of women in mind. Some people would do this, for the right price and they'd be the safe bets. I could finance the whole thing, I mean, we never did buy Alice and Jasper a wedding gift. This could be it."

"How much would you pay?" Bella asked.

"I was thinking about that. A large cash deposit would be too blatant. Maybe if I bought an apartment somewhere in my name and let the surrogate live in it during the pregnancy, then signed it over after the delivery, to her, as a gift. There's no law against buying someone a place to live. But let her know, any wobbles, any thoughts of absconding with the baby before birth and she gets nothing.

I think the lure of owning a home outright, forever, would be enough.

She could sell it, or keep it free and clear. Or perhaps a small house would be better. Maybe we should only consider women who have kids already. They are less likely to have romanticised views of newborns. They know babies are hard work and messy and take up all your time."

"I guess, so long as we help, that would be more sensible. We have to talk to Alice and Jasper and see what they think."

"Mom wants the twins on Saturday, to show off to the relatives at some event she and Carlisle are attending. We will have a whole morning free. We will invite Jazz and Alice over and lay it all on the table."

"What time is Esme taking the twins?" Bella asked.

"Early. We will have a little time for ourselves after they leave, before Alice arrives."

"Good. I will hold you to that," Bella smiled, planning her requests and prioritising them in order.

"An hour in bed together without wondering if or when we will be interrupted. Sounds like Heaven," Edward replied. "There goes the alarm clock. I'll bring him to you to feed and make the rest of us real food."

"Is Masen's feeding annoying you?"

"Nope, I know one day he will give up and take a cup instead. I did it myself, on my second birthday. I have to allow my son the same right to choose. But of course, I will look forward to reclaiming my breasts."


	12. Chapter 12

The Sperm Donor

Chapter 12

Edward looked again at the specifications of the house he had chosen to buy for the surrogate, and wondered if this was a good idea after all. The house was situated in Port Angeles but that was still just a short car trip to Forks, where Jasper and Alice and the baby would be living.

He had no idea whom they had chosen to help them, in the end. He'd interviewed a dozen prospective women and gotten it down to three, and sent them to Alice and Jasper for their consideration.

Jazz had preferred using an agency and he seemed pretty keen on one particular candidate, a woman named Nina.

Anyway, Edward had done his best and who had been the final choice had been down to them. Two embryos had been inserted inside whoever was the chosen one, and now it was just a matter of a blood test to confirm the pregnancy and if positive, a scan to check where the baby had implanted.

He looked up as the receptionist put her head inside his room.

"Jasper Whitlock is here."

"Alone?" Edward asked in surprise. He assumed the appointment was to confirm or rule out the pregnancy.

"Yes, alone. Shall I send him in?"

"Sure. Thanks."

Jasper looked a little embarrassed almost as he walked in and sat down.

"What's up?" Edward asked, feeling a sudden sense of almost fear.

"Um, Nina, the surrogate..."

"Yes?"

"She prefers not to have her check ups here in Forks. Apparently she is not unknown in these parts and she prefers attending her usual doctor and hospital in Seattle. Alice agrees, so she says anyway. Now she thinks it would be better to keep our business further afield. I think she has the crazy idea she may manage to pretend she is carrying the baby herself, and nobody here will know we had to hire another woman's womb."

"That reaction is not all that uncommon and you do live in a very small town, where so little gets past the gossip brigade. With 'sympathy' or 'empathy' belly suits available freely, Alice could fool the locals and pull this off, if that's what you both want."

"I don't care. I don't see any shame in Alice's condition but I do understand her point. Our child will always be pointed out and labeled the baby some other woman was paid to gestate. Alice wants to attend ante natal clinic and childbirth classes held here in this hospital, like any 'pregnant' patient of yours, and we will go away to Seattle on some urgent family business when the baby is due.

Lo and behold, Alice will go 'into labor' and give birth there and then we'll arrive home with Junior and all she will have missed is the opportunity to have hospital visitors."

"I won't say a word to anyone. Alice could make a monthly booking to come and see me and show me the scan photos and such, and the other patients will assume she is attending as a pregnant woman, just like them. I can schedule her in. Has the pregnancy test been done yet?"

"Yes, it is positive. The scan shows a single sac so just the one implanted."

"That's best. Really. I know everyone thinks twins would be really great in your circumstances but there's still all the extra worry and higher chance of premature labor and delivery, as we all know so well."

"Yeah. And I guess maybe Nina will consider carrying a sibling for this baby in the future, if it all goes as planned."

"The beauty is, with surrogacy where you use your own embryo, it won't make any difference if you use a different surrogate next time. There's no DNA from the woman carrying the babies, anyway. They are one hundred per cent genetically yours and so if this Nina doesn't want to repeat the experience, it won't make any difference to the outcome. Some other woman will do it instead."

"I know that's true but I sort of assumed she would become at least a friend. A family friend. Not just someone we pay and snatch the baby from in the end."

"It's a financial transaction first and foremost, Jasper. What do you think I should do about the house?"

"Oh, Nina doesn't want anything but medical expenses, that's the other thing I had to tell you."

"That's very generous of her. Or is that another way of saying she has an awful lot of expenses and wants the cash?"

"No, she seems perfectly happy with us footing all the bills and supporting her once she leaves work. I do have an idea she may want to do that fairly soon. I think she sees this as a way to have an extended vacation from her job and just sit around resting while our baby grows inside her. But that's fine. I'd rather she took it easy."

"So, how are you staying in touch? Are you attending check ups and such?"

" We have talked to her on the phone and online, she had the test yesterday. Alice expected we would be having it here so she was a little hurt that Nina went off and found out alone. I think Alice really wanted us to be there, not be told in a phone call."

"Perfectly understandable but see it from Nina's point of view. No matter how close you two get to her, at the end of the day it's your baby and you two get to raise him or her, and she goes back to being a stranger again. I can see both sides. I think I'd keep my distance from her in her circumstances. Jas, you don't want her haunting the place after the birth, trying to visit the baby. It's yours. She is just the incubator. What are the terms of the agreement when it comes to attending check ups and scans with her?"

"The agency says we will get full medical disclosure but she doesn't have to notify us of appointments beforehand or have us go with her. She just has to hand over the results to the agency and they will be faxed to us."

"Do you and Alice feel okay about that?"

"I guess so. Nina has her life and like you say, she has to keep living it after delivery so maybe this is the best way. I just think Alice imagined the surrogate would be living here and become her buddy and they'd be in this together. I think she will feel left out as the pregnancy progresses. I will ask Nina to at least let Alice travel to Seattle for any scans. She will want to see our baby for herself."

"I'm happy to gift this Nina some cash if it will make her more co-operative about that. I think Alice should be allowed to attend if she wants but legally, I imagine Nina can elect for privacy."

"Thank you, Edward. We will talk about it ourselves and then see how Nina feels. I'll keep the gift as a last resort, if she remains reluctant to let Alice go to Seattle each month for the scan. It's in her contract, that she has regular scans at our expense. They are non-invasive and don't hurt, and she agreed straight off they would be done."

"You seem to lack the thrill and enthusiasm I would have expected, you two are going to have a baby."

"Yes, I know. It's cool, it's just not the way we wanted it to happen. I guess we wanted the whole experience not just the end result. But it is the end result that counts most."

"True. Send Alice in and I'll 'give her the happy news' and she can go hug my receptionist and gush over the photo board of successful deliveries, and put her own photo up after the birth. She will be a new member of the baby club."

"Thanks. Really, you have been a great help and I hope there's no hard feelings that we chose Nina over the three women you sent. Alice wasn't confident using a woman who was already a mother was the right choice. She kept worrying if the woman's kids thought they were getting a new sibling, it might make the surrogate think twice about giving the baby over. And having known the joy of holding their own newborns, it could all get complicated."

"This Nina hasn't had any children?" Edward asked with concern.

"Nope, and she doesn't intend to."

"That comes with it's own possible potential problems. She doesn't know if she will bond as the baby kicks inside her, and she could just leave and disappear. You wouldn't know for days or even weeks.

Do you have a permanent address and know where she works and have her social security number?"

"Of course. It's all legal and contracted. She would have to fight us in court for custody and we would win. We have the agreement and as you said, the baby is not hers in any way, so she wouldn't have a hope of winning."

"Let's hope it never comes to that. Is she married?"

"Nope and no plans in that direction until this is a done deed, either. She is just a lady looking to fix her karma and right a wrong. She had a termination in college and now she feels she can't start her own family and be happy until she does one unselfish deed that will balance her universe. Giving birth to another couple's baby will apparently achieve this. What can I say? If this good deed works in her favor, then we are just grateful she chose us to help out."

"Well, it's done and in nine months, Alice will be a Mom and that was the aim. I can lend her empathy suits suited to various stages as the pregnancy progresses. The expectant fathers here don't seem that keen to experience what pregnancy feels like."

"Can't blame them for that. Thanks, Edward. See you tonight."

Bella was bursting with happiness to know the surrogacy had jumped the first hurdle. Sometimes it can take months or even years to get an embryo to implant so this instant success would lower the stress levels significantly.

She wrapped small baby gifts and dotted them around the dining table and decorated with pink and blue balloons.

Rose and Emmett arrived and he fussed with their daughter while Rose helped Bella cook.

Edward fed his own twins and and got them bathed and ready for bed so the grown ups could enjoy the evening.

When Alice and Jas arrived, they all let out a quiet cheer, careful not to wake the babies already there.

"This is so cool, amazing. Congratulations," Bella said, hugging Alice.

"Yes, it seems we got lucky right off the bat. It's going to be a very long nine months," Alice replied.

"However, you can get in lots of experience with diaper changing and bathing and babysitting any time you like," Rose promised. The work and mess of early parenthood were not Rose's cup of tea, it seemed. She was happy for any respite from the baby duties.

"Oh, by the way...Roxalie Lily," Emmett announced.

Rose glared.

"He won. I foolishly had a bet and Emmett won naming rights. He has lodged a Change of Name for our daughter. She will answer to Roxie, though. Roxalie, it sounds like a species of dinosaur or garden bug to me."

"Come on, Rosie. Fair's fair. You agreed and I would have been polite about naming her your chosen name if you had won," Emmett objected.

"What name had you wanted?" Alice asked.

"Emily. Plain and simple, easy to spell, instantly acceptable," Rose replied.

"But there are so many Emily's already. At least nobody here has a Roxalie," Emmett defended.

"Yeah, we can be pretty sure nobody ever will, either," Rose stated.

"I think it's pretty," Alic decided. "I want something different and unique for our baby,too. I agree with Emmett. You want a name your child will answer to in the playground without six others thinking you are calling them."

"Well, it's done. Just another reason to quit at one child," Rose announced.

Edward and Bella were unsurprised but Alice looked upset.

"What?" Rose said, catching Alice's facial expression.

"It just seems unfair, that's all. You have all the right parts in working order and yet you will spend the rest of your fertile years avoiding the very thing your body was made to do."

"What? Rose would never avoid sex," Emmett said in shock.

"Women are actually made to reproduce, not just give you a thrill," Alice protested back.

He shrugged and went to check on Roxie in the travel crib in the guestroom.

"So, what's going on next door?" Rose asked, looking out at where the land had been levelled in preparation for being built on.

"That is our new house. Well, that's where our new house is about to start being built. I bought the land before it hit the open market," Edward answered.

"Oh, good move. No doubt there would have been a lot of other people fighting for land in Forks," Rose said sarcastically.

"I know, but it only needed one other person after it and we could have missed out. It's the most convenient location, right here next to this house. Our soon-to-be guesthouse, and place of peace and harmony for Bella to write in."

"Do you truly expect to have time to yourself before those twins leave home? How amusing and optimistic of you," Rose laughed.

"They are already in a new routine, taking two hour naps after lunch. I do get a break," Bella protested. She personally thought Roxie would probably settle down if Emmett followed Rose's example and let the child sleep and not pick her up at the slightest sound. He was the one making that baby 'difficult'.

Alice opened each little present and was alternately crying with happiness to know she would one day be part of the group again, now she would be a mother, and sad because the baby was in Seattle and it seemed like that was so far away from them.

"You should start discussing names. I think it would get easier, Alice, if you and Jasper had names so you could bond with the baby in that way. Telling us updates about how little 'Mary' or 'Jack' is progressing would be more personal than just referring to it as 'the baby'," Edward suggested.

Alice smiled and sat down on Jasper's knee. "I think Edward is right. What names do you like?"

"You may choose so long as I have the right to veto," Jasper replied, hugging Alice. This could well be the only baby they ever had, so it was probably more important Alice got as many of her wishes fulfilled as possible. The name she chose would be fine with him, so long as it wasn't something he had to spell to everyone he mentioned it to. Like Roxalie.

Bella climbed into bed once the clearing up was done and Edward had helped so it was still reasonably early. Their friends had enjoyed the evening and Rose had decided a proper baby shower was in order, so the women would be planning that next.

"All this baby talk is making me think about when we will be ready for the next one," Bella said and Edward smiled. Three was good.

The idea of having a pregnancy where he knew from the start his wife was carrying his child appealed.

"Are we ready to start thinking about it?" Edward asked. She was still breastfeeding their son.

"Sure. I think we should wait until Alice has her baby home with her then get practising with view to conceiving."

"We can practise now even if there is no way we can conceive. Practice makes perfect. We want to be very sure we know what we are doing and have it all worked out in advance," Edward replied, nuzzling her throat.

This time the baby got deposited with the original body part designed to do just that and he was looking forward to it.

"Okay, trial run number one," Bella agreed laughing.

"And two and three," Edward added, reaching for her.

X~x~X

The reports of the progressing pregnancy all arrived regularly and Edward received copies and placed them in Alice's folder. Nina seemed reluctant to visit or have Alice go see her either, but she talked on the phone and on Skype every day. She said she needed to keep a distance from the real parents so it would be more a business deal than a partnership.

She was very keen to right her karma and give them a baby but she also seemed keen to resume her 'real' life afterwards and she was as impatient as Alice was, to have this ordeal over and done with.

Alice had to go to Seattle anyway one day and she decided to drop in, unannounced on Nina, so the woman couldn't plan ahead and be out somewhere thus avoiding the reunion. She didn't strictly _need _to go to Seattle, the matter she was attending to could have been handled over the phone but it seemed like an opportunity to see Nina so she decided she did need to discuss her latest order with the supplier himself, in person.

After she did her visit to Nina.

Another woman answered her knock on the door. She was wearing a nurse's uniform and Alice realised as she sat waiting for this stranger to fetch Nina from what appeared to be the only bedroom in the apartment, that maybe these women were a couple.

She didn't know why she was shocked or even surprised. Lesbians were just as suitable as surrogates and Nina's personal life was her own business.

"Alice, I wasn't expecting you," Nina said, walking out into the sitting room, still in her night attire.

"This is Jane."

"Hi Jane, Alice replied, smiling.

"Nice to meet you. I have to run, I'm almost late for work," the girl said, kissing Nina on the cheek and heading out.

Nina closed the door and shrugged. "I would prefer to get dressed, is that okay?"

"Of course. I'm happy to wait right here," Alice assured her.

She heard the sound of the shower running and walked around the small apartment. She wasn't snooping, just interested in how the woman who carried their baby lived. She frowned at a lease agreement sitting openly on the kitchen bench. Nina was moving, into a three bedroom house shortly, going on the dates listed. Then Alice read the names and wondered what was going on. The new lease was made out to Jane Alexander and Irina Denali.

Denali.

Like Tanya Denali. It was an unusual name, surely.

She sat down and waited anxiously and Nina soon returned in an overlarge frock that hid her shape completely.

"So, Alice. It's such a shame it's not a scan day. I went yesterday, I have another few photos to send you so you may as well take the originals," she said brightly, walking to a drawer and removing several prints.

Alice grabbed them excitedly and looked at her child.

"Gosh, look how clear it is. Could they tell the gender yet?" she asked. Edward had told her by now the sex of the baby would be obvious and Nina took the photos back and flicked through them.

"It's a girl. See the three white lines? That means female."

Alice smiled. Jasper definitely leaned towards wanting a daughter. She had fought to remain completely neutral so neither gender would disappoint but she felt instantly happy knowing it was a girl.

This would be awesome.

"That's amazing," Alice said, wiping away a tear, instantly forgetting to even be sorry or angry she hadn't been there for the scan.

A daughter.


	13. Chapter 13

**The Sperm Donor**

**Chapter 13**

"How could they have missed the birth?" Bella screamed. Alice and Jasper had both taken time off work and had been in Seattle in a hotel yet they had missed being at the delivery of their own child.

"Bella, Calm down. The baby is fine, and Alice will be bringing her home tomorrow. Could you please do me a favour and just be happy for them and not kill their buzz. Of course the are both upset but apparently things happened fast and Nina delivered as soon as she got admitted, so her friend Jane called them.

They were holding their daughter before she was an hour old."

He didn't want anyone to spoil anything more for his friends. They were psyched to be parents but felt cheated to not have been there to welcome their daughter into the world.

Edward had been convinced Nina was scamming them in some way so the fact she handed over a baby girl that looked apparently like both her parents, at least put that worry to rest.

He would be doing a DNA test as part of her regular newborn screening, without telling Alice and Jas.

The due date was not for another three weeks but the baby weighed six pounds and had no breathing issues. Or any obvious health concerns.

He knew Bella was never going to wait for them to get home so he called his Mom.

"Edward, you need to talk fast, I have your son and daughter and Roxie all here."

"I suspected as much. Bella and Rose have gone to Seattle, right?"

"Actually they are calling in at the hospital to see if you want to go. Emmett's with them and Carlisle is here helping me, but Mike is willing to cover for you."

"Then I guess I am going to Seattle," Edward agreed.

The girls all surrounded the Perspex bassinet and cooed over the newborn while the men stood back and shook Jasper's hand.

"I'm so happy for you both," Edward said sincerely. "I have the cash 'bonus' we discussed, should I hand it to Nina myself? What room is she in?"

"Actually, she was upset, like you predicted and has been transferred into a private hospital and is not accepting visitors. She did regret the whole deal after she saw the baby but she didn't fight it, just left."

"Maybe she will have a baby of her own soon. What should I do with the money?"

Jasper turned and waved at someone.

"There's Jane, she works here. She's a friend of Nina's, I'll give it to her to pass on."

Edward frowned. Jane looked familiar and he walked with Jasper to meet the girl.

"Jane Volturi," he said in surprise.

She looked like she didn't recognise him but they had met a few times, at parties he and Tanya attended over the years.

"Oh, uh, God,, I'm so bad with names," she stuttered. "Edmond?"

"Edward Cullen," he corrected and wondered why she was doing this. While they'd never been more than acquaintances, he could see by her eyes she did know who he was.

"Edward, right. Tanya's Edward."

Oh, so they were playing that game.

"Tanya's ex-Edward," he smiled as he corrected her."Now happily married with two children."

"Congratulations," she said nervously and took the envelope from Jasper. "Nina really didn't expect anything more.."

"Tell her we can't thank her enough and we want her to have something nice, maybe a holiday some place warm with a beach. Alice and I are just sorry this experience caused her pain."

"She will be fine. She just needs a little time and space," Jane replied.

"She has changed our lives and we will always remember that," Jasper answered.

"I should go, make sure Nina is okay," Jane muttered and turned to leave.

"Nurse Alexander, Mrs Sanderson's scan..."

"Oh, sorry, Doctor. I have it in the office," she said, walking away quickly with the white coated doctor.

Edward felt that feeling again.

Just a feeling of vague unease. But all had ended well, so what was his issue? He had told Jasper to go to Seattle early, and be available at all times so Nina couldn't run with their baby, but she could have.

Yet she hadn't, so there was no problem.

Right?

He stepped up past the women and looked at the newborn with the eyes of a doctor, not a friend.

She certainly resembled both her parents. Her size and body type were what you would expect Alice's daughter to be. Short, petite.

Her coloring was a mix. Baby hair that was soft brown, again like Alice's but it was peppered with blond strands of Jasper's wiry hair as well, already.

She would have wavy fair hair as a toddler.

Her eyes were the same startling blue as her father's, not the usual baby slate blue.

She was the right age, a baby of less than a day old, with all those wrinkles and uneven skin tone all newborns had. Purple soles, uneven blotches elsewhere.

So, not a cuckoo in the nest but the DNA would confirm that. He touched her gently as he examined her body and smiled as she close her fingers around his much larger digit. Jasper's long fingers.

Okay, she was fine and theirs. End of story.

He couldn't think of any scam that ended with the scammer coming out of it with nothing.

Nina had not asked for more money and her fee had been reasonable and typical of most surrougates.

"Okay, we should go and let Jas and Alice have some bonding time with their daughter."

Emmett had glanced briefly and clearly decided the infant didn't come up to Roxie's amazing standard, and he was reading the list on the wall, looking for a food outlet.

The girls would stay all day unless he ordered them out.

"Come on, we should eat and get home to our own children. They will be home tomorrow."

Bella reluctantly handed the pink bundle back to Alice and Edward saw 'the look' and knew, tonight was probably the night.

She was ready for another child herself.

"So, see you tomorrow and I have washed everything Roxie has outgrown, you are welcome to it all," Rose told Alice.

"Thanks, Rose. I suspect we have sufficient clothes for ten babies but you never know when you need more, right?"

"You made or bought most of them, you must like them," Rose replied.

Emmett herded them out and Edward grabbed Jasper's arm.

"Indulge me. Don't let anyone take the baby anywhere without you going as well."

Jasper grimaced. "You really don't trust Nina, do you? Yet you never met her."

"Better safe than sorry and her friend does work here. Just be alert."

He slept restlessly that night, unable to let go of the fear. He went to work expecting the worst, but Bella was on the phone telling him to leave work as early as possible because mother, father and baby were home by lunch time.

Edward let go of the breath he had been holding.

He grabbed his bag and thanked Mike for filling in yet again and headed home.

Jasper held the baby while Edward took a blood sample and examined her thoroughly.

"She looks great. Her Apgar's were great. 8 and 10. I don't see any problems. Sign this and I'll let you know the results but she has no yellowing, I don't think jaundice is an issue."

Jasper signed the form and Edward called to Bella he was just off to drop of the blood and would be back.

He filled in the form and handed it over and paused at his office again.

Some thing nagged at his brain.

He opened the patient file hard copy and read everything again.

Normal pregnancy, normal baby.

Good size, a little under average but Alice's genes would never produce a ten pounder, and the baby was slightly early. He looked at the scans again.

The fetus had been quite long at one point, that was what was bothering him. When Alice had given him this lot, he'd assumed the baby would be long. Quite tall. He read the measurements and compared them to the next scan. For some reason the baby had grown quickly then slowed down.

It happened.

All the baby making sex was addling his brain.

He shut the file and went home to join in the celebrations.

X~x~X

The next few weeks went by quickly but each day seemed to crawl for Bella. She watched the calendar and had the test kit ready, plus the back up, and she just wanted to pee on a stick so badly. But it wouldn't show yet.

Edward was enjoying the journey and didn't care if conception took a while actually. Alice's baby was a reminder of how hard the first few weeks of life with a new baby were. He had promised to try and only put one single baby inside Bella so it stood to reason it would only be half as busy with one.

"Dadda," Emma squealed and flopped on his abdomen as he lay on the floor. Masen decided that looked like fun and joined his sister and Edward examined himself for bruises.

"You two are bullies, you know that," he joked, lifting Emma into the air above him.

She managed to drool in his face and he put her down and bowled their ball across the floor so he could escape while they chased it.

"So, do I look pregnant?" Bella asked, turning side on.

"Oh yes, very pregnant. Enormous," he replied.

"Edward, be serious. I want to know," she moaned, and he pulled her onto his lap.

"Think about this. If you aren't, then we have to do all that fun stuff over and over again until you are."

"But I want a new baby now," she replied, ruffling his hair.

Edward did as well, but it would take however long it would take.

"This is probably the final baby for all of us," Bella said a touch sadly. "Alice says she could never go through the stress again. She knows it was all worth it but she really did not enjoy Nina carrying Jacinta. I think she and Jas have both come to the conclusion they would rather stick with an only child than endure that again."

Edward had been quite stressed himself, but the DNA test results ended all his fears. She was their baby.

"I don't imagine Nina would do it again, either," he commented."Have they settled on Jacinta's middle name? I have never known anyone like our friends to make such a drawn out drama of naming their kids."

"I know Rose and Emm were just annoying, but Alice has a geniune reason to take her time. She thinks she should put Nina's name in the baby's full name, out of respect for what she did. But then, she will always have that constant reminder. I said Nina will never know so why bother?"

"Jacinta Nina Whitlock. I guess it sounds okay," Edward decided.

"Actually, Nina's name is Irina, she just calls herself Nina," Bella told him. "It would be Jacinta Irina Whitlock. I don't think it flows. I'd go with Jacinta Alice. She is the mother, after all."

Edward sat there stunned.

"Irina. What was her surname again?" he checked. He had never asked or seen it written anywhere. The scan images held no name at all and he had never seen the contract.

"Denali. God, Edward, I would have thought that name would stick in your brain," she laughed.

"Irina Denali? Tanya's sister?"

"I did wonder. I didn't know, Alice let the name slip yesterday. I think she deliberately never told us because she knew you were already stirred up about not trusting Nina."

"Irina Denali carried Alice's baby. I don't get what her motivation was. She's a lesbian, I suspect she lives with Jane Volturi nowadays. They were always flirting around one another."

"Who is Jane Volturi?"

"Her friend...the nurse. You met her. Jane."

"Jane Alexander?"

"She called herself Jane Alexander? And Irina called herself 'Nina'. They were definitely up to something. I just don't understand what."

"Lesbians aren't a different species, Edward. Maybe they did just want to help Alice and Jasper. They could have stolen Jacinta and they didn't. Let it go."

Edward sat back and thought about everything he knew of Irina Denali.

"It was a girl! The Denali's have this obsession with having a boy to replace their little brother that died. I bet you anything, had Jasper's kid been a boy, they would have run with it."

"Then how lucky it is a girl," Bella said. "Are you going to say anything to Jasper?"

"Just warn him to not use her next time. If they ever change their minds about doing it again. If she is trying to steal someone's son, let it be someone else we don't know. I wonder if I should alert the agency? I have no proof."

"Maybe just tell the manager or whatever. Then your conscience will be clear and if they are out to steal a baby boy, at least he will know."

Edward decided to do just that. How to word his suspicions would be vital, so he didn't sound like a nutcase himself, but he was sure he was right. Irina would keep being a surrogate until she carried a boy.

He called the next day, from his office.

"Irina has left our service actually. She and Jane moved away somewhere."

"Do you think we need to alert other agencies?" Edward asked.

"There are quite a few, Dr Cullen. I can add a note to her file and if anyone calls for a reference, I will mention your concern. That's all I can do."

"Thanks, Edward replied, hanging up. Well, he had done all he could.

He went to the Fertility Clinic and helped himself to a very sensitive early pregnancy test kit and took it home to his anxious wife.

X~x~X

"Oh my God, oh my God," squealed Bella, and Edward took the stick and read it. Weakly positive.

But positive.

"We need to do another test in a few days but usually Positives stay that way. I just wanted you to know if it was Negative."

"I'm pregnant!" Bella said gleefully."I'm having a baby! Hey, it is just one, right?"

Edward laughed.

"How would I know, Love? We can do a scan in a few weeks but we do need to wait until there is something to show up on the scan."

"Oh God, what if it's twins again? I don't know, Edward."

"Well, now you have something new to obsess over. Any chance of breakfast? The monsters are awake by the sound of things."

Bella debated about whether to announce the good news yet or to wait until they knew for sure it was just one. But if it was twins, she would lose a little of the thrill and she wanted to be thrilled when she told everyone.

Twins would be so much of a worry, after last time. She wanted a nice, simple delivery, and a nice healthy screaming baby. Memories of Masen's first moments still chilled her to the bone.

What was she even thinking, risking going through that again, or even worse? She had two healthy kids already. One of each. She was insane.

Edward didn't laugh at her fears but he wanted whatever she wanted, so they waited and he did the scan before telling anyone anything. He suspected they all knew already anyway. Bella was green and could not go near the kitchen and was dashing off to the bathroom to throw up twice a day.

"There, look, only one sac," he said, having checked every inch of Bella's uterus.

There was no way a second embryo was hiding, he'd done the scan on the best machine in 4D.

Bella bit her lip and held her arms out to him.

"I'm so sorry I've been so hysterical. I was scared."

"I know that, Bella. I would have been freaking out beside you had there been two."

"It can't split and make identicals, right?"

"Nope, that would have happened already. It's just one, Love."

He waited for the next drama. Boy or girl? But Bella seemed unconcerned. They had plenty of clothes still for either gender and she didn't even want to know, by the time a scan could tell them.

"Let's have the surprise when it's born. Nobody does that these days. Let's just choose a boy's and a girl's name and be happy with whatever we get."

Edward was happy to be in calmer waters and he suggested she may like to name the baby after her late father.

Thus baby Charles or Charlotte was underway. Sometimes she wavered and considered Charlene or just Charlee for a girl, but mostly, it was all settled and nothing happened to cause any further stress.

The twins were unimpressed at the story books about becoming Big Sister and Big brother and pretty much tried to scrag little Jacinta whenever they could get a hand near her.

Bella was having a wonderful pregnancy and they decided three was the right number of children for them. Edward had always favored three. From an early age, that was what he had hoped for, and he was happy with his lot in life. He really did have everything.

They would enjoy and appreciate every moment of the pregnancy but he wasn't sorry there would never be another. He'd gotten what he wanted. A baby conceived the natural, normal, every day way.

X~x~X

Bella woke with a start. She knew exactly what was happening and didn't even wonder for a single second if she had merely wet herself.

"Edward, wake up," she said loudly, shaking his shoulder.

"Huh?" he mumbled, edging away from her hand.

"Edward! We need to go to the hospital. It's time."

Edward was suddenly wide awake.

"How close are the contractions? Do you feel like pushing?" he asked, immediately in doctor mode.

"Relax, my forewaters just broke. We have plenty of time. I just want you awake and alert. Go call your Mom and have coffee, Edward."

Bella got into the shower and rubbed her soon-to-be gone bump. The water helped the vague pains in her back and she was about to get out when a massive wave of pain hit her and had her bent completely over.

"Edward! she called and he appeared at the door, coffee cup in hand.

"Mom and Dad are...Bella!"

He got her onto the bed and opened her legs as he prepared to exam her cervix. No need.

He heard his parents opening the front door as the baby's head emerged, and he checked for the cord but it wasn't around the baby's neck.

"Dad, in here," he shouted and Esme rushed in too, taking Bella's hand as she pushed their son into Edward's hands.

Charles Carlisle Cullen screamed at the rude awakening as he slid from his cosy warm first home and entered the second.

His arms splayed out in protest and Esme cried a little at the angry purple faced newborn.

"It's a boy," Edward announced, grinning happily. Masen would have a playmate of his own gender at last. All these girls, he needed a back up.

Carlisle took the infant and checked him over as Edward delivered the placenta.

The baby colored up quickly and Carlisle rubbed him briskly with a towel that Esme handed him, and another clean one to wrap him in.

Edward bagged the placenta so it could be checked but everything was okay. Everything had happened so very fast and he was glad to not have to do this again but it had been the best experience of his life.

Apart from meeting Bella. And meeting the twins.

They sat together against the bedhead and examined their new son and decided he had Edward's hair, that was obvious, but maybe Bella's eyes.

Edward guestimated he weighed around eight to nine pounds, and had excellent lungs. Bella decided there was no point having doctors galore and not taking advantage so she elected to stay home and not go to hospital, seeing all was well.

Esme would stay in the guestroom and look after the twins, Edward would stay home for a few days and look after her and the baby, why bother going and taking up bed space?

Carlisle was pleased with her progress and Charles Cullen was fine.

Masen seemed to be quite interested until Bella started to breastfeed baby Charles then he decided he didn't like his brother after all.

Emma was more concerned with claiming plenty of attention from all these adults here in attendance and preferred twirling around dancing and singing, and earning applause, to getting in photos with the red faced crying creature her Mom was suddenly besotted with.

"The end of an era," Rose said, holding the little boy up in her arms. "The final baby."

"We could try for a boy," Emmett suggested.

"I don't think so," she smiled. "I like to hold them and look at them but I really never want to go through all that inconvenient messy stuff again."

Jasper and Alice were different this time. They had Jacinta and so could be openly happy for the new addition and not feel left out or jealous. Alice held him a lot, whenever the parents let her and felt blessed to have a child of her very own as well as a share in these offspring of her dearest friends.


	14. Chapter 14

The Sperm Donor

Epilogue

"Could you all just hold still and smile, please," Rose begged.

She was glad she had the sense to stop at one. How Bella and Edward coped with their three mystified her. The twins always seemed to be taking off running in opposite directions and Edward always had that baby in a carry pouch on his chest, unless Charles was attached to Bella's breast.

Rose was attempting to get a group shot of all five children but that was unlikely to happen it seemed.

Edward was crouched behind the larger children and was holding Baby Charles up but Jacinta kept grabbing at the baby's face and making him cry.

"Edward, just sit down with them and pretend they are all yours," Rose suggested.

He flopped onto the sand and was immediately covered in toddlers. Bella rushed over and saved Baby Charles and Alice sorted the children back onto the picnic blanket.

"I want Daddy to hold me," Emma protested.

"He has to hold Charles, because your baby brother is too little to sit up yet."

"Let her come sit on my other leg," Edward suggested. He didn't want any jealousy developing and over the past few months Emma was noticing how much time and attention Charles took away from her.

Masen sat down beside his brother as Bella handed him back to Edward. He gave his brother a shell, and Bella thanked him for sharing and took it off Charles as the baby tried to eat it.

"Mommy will keep it safe for him, okay, sweetie?"

Rose snapped off a few shots then put the camera away and watched as children ran off in every direction.

Emmett was like a sheepdog, always aware of exactly where Roxie was and there to head her off from any danger.

Jasper had his own camera out and was snapping away happily, mainly photos of Alice and Jacinta. They truly were his world.

"Watch this," he said, alerting the others as Alice held the baby's hands and stood her up.

He handed the camera to Rose and sat about ten foot away and held his hands out.

"Come to Daddy, Jacey," he cooed and the baby grinned and took two staggering steps in his direction. She rocked and wavered precariously then regained her balance and staggered to his arms.

"Yay, Jacey can walk!" Bella cheered and clapped. Now they had four toddlers and Charles was the only one they could still call a baby. She adored him and had never regretted having a third, no matter how hectic her life was. Edward always helped with the kids and the cooking and washing when he was home and he worked the shortest shifts offered so he could be there for her.

"Happy wife, happy life" was his motto. It did seem accurate. The more he was there for Bella, the more she was there, ready and willing, for him in bed at night. It seemed a fair trade.

An excellent trade in fact.

The women started unpacking lunch and the men helped feed their various offspring then headed down the sand for a serious game of Frisbee as the children made sandcastles and Bella fed Charles to sleep.

Jacinta still napped and she curled up in Alice's arms and mimicked the baby.

"No regrets? You are still happy with just the one?" Bella asked.

"I'm happy, for sure. I would have liked a boy as well, but every time I get in the mood to ask Jas if we could do it again, I remember how I felt during that pregnancy. I picked up on all Edward's fears, you know. I was often almost hysterical, worrying what Nina was planning to do. I don't know if I agree with his theory though. Now it seems more like Edward was over reacting. He likes to be in control, doesn't he? You are so lucky you never had any reason to use a surrougate, I swear, Edward would have made her sleep in your bed between you two until she delivered."

"No doubt about that," Bella agreed. "We don't know Irina, Nina, whatever, though and he does. He has told me things she has done in the past. She is a crazy lady, Alice."

"Tell me what she has done to make Edward dislike her so much."

"Okay, once he and Tanya were staying at the Denali house and Tanya went out with her Mom. While they were gone, Irina took a shower then called out to Edward that she had slipped. He went to help her and she 'lost' her towel and tried to rape him practically."

"I thought he said she was a lesbian?"

"A lesbian who has always wanted a kid. Another time she offered to collect Edward from the airport when he joined them all at their house and Tanya had gone ahead a week earlier because he had exams. Irina ran out of gas in the forest, and stripped off her clothes and told Edward she would never tell, she just needed him to 'do' her. He got out and walked to the house. It took him three hours."

"Maybe she just wanted to break him and Tanya up. You wouldn't have objected."

"Who knows. Maybe. But who would have walked in on them either time? Nobody else was around. I think she just wanted a kid."

"Hmm, the phrase 'pot' and 'kettle' come to mind."

"That's why I think he's right. I had stupid flashes myself of ways to just get some guy to knock me up, and it had to be a stranger, remember. I did dream up scenarios like hers. I just never followed through with them."

"But she could have bought sperm."

"The one thing Edward has been able to discover is, Irina lacks ovaries. She couldn't have conceived anyway. He has talked to the guy that ran the agency she worked for and he had all her medical records. Jane wasn't keen enough to have a baby to go through a pregnancy herself, it was Irina that wants one. Someone else's embryo was the only way she could achieve her goal."

"Gosh,now I am starting to think Edward was right."

"It's just so lucky she is obsessed with having a boy. I guess her plans to keep your baby changed when she found out it was Jacinta."

"So are all the Denali's strange?" Alice asked.

"Edward says Kate, the other sister, is normal but she stays away from the rest of them. probably fears they'll steal her children."

"Do you think Tanya knew what Irina was doing?"

"I have no clue but I never liked her," Bella answered."But then, I wanted Edward and she had him. Why would I like her?"

"No reason at all," Alice grinned. "He's so much better off with you anyway. I'm glad you stole him."

"I didn't steal him, he came willingly. Eventually. God, sometimes I really didn't think we would end up together."

"All's well that ends well, then."

"Yep, it is."

X~x~X

Irina Denali sat down on an outdoor chair and sipped her drink. This was a brief moment of peace and quiet and she gazed at Jane who was sleeping on a blanket on the grass. They had used Edward's money as well as their savings to buy this old house in Italy. It was a converted farmhouse, surrounded by lush lawns and a small orchard growing olives. Not exactly a working farm, more of a hobby farm.

The farm manager, Felix, was a handsome single man who had taken a fancy to Irina's sister, Tanya, who lived here with them as well.

Jane's family came from this land and she and Irina had always enjoyed their yearly vacation here so it did seem like the right place to settle down and live.

Tanya had wanted to live with them too, but hadn't been that keen on Italy until she met Felix, now she seemed to be as fond of the country as they were.

Sounds from inside the large open kitchen filtered through to outside, as Tanya and Felix made lunch for them all. Irina suspected more kissing was happening in there than cooking, but whatever. She had Jane, why would she resent Tanya having a new man. After all, she owed her sister.

Tanya had been the one who found out about Jasper and Alice's situation , and had coached her on how to present herself as exactly the woman they wanted to be their surrogate.

The pregnancy had been difficult, but she had endured it.

The end result was worth every ounce of pain.

Irina had wanted to hand the baby girl over herself and have them showering her with praise and thanks but she knew she would never be able to hide the grin on her face. Jane had come to the rescue and had her transferred out to a private place, where she could receive 'counselling' for her 'loss'.

She hadn't been the slightest bit sorry to let them have their daughter, in truth. The last thing she wanted was a girl to raise. Growing up one of three sisters had made her sure she would never want a daughter.

They knew Kate lived in Spain and avoided them all in fear they would kidnap one of her brats, but she had five girls. They were all completely safe.

"Lunch," Tanya trilled, carrying out the tea tray and setting out plates of cold meats and olives and salad vegetables.

Felix handed over a basket of freshly baked bread and opened another bottle of wine.

"None for me," Irina said, covering her glass with her palm.

Jane staggered groggily to the table and sat down, fanning herself.

"It's so wonderfully warm here. I'm still not used to it, after Washington State."

She accepted a glass of vino and drank it down quickly.

Tanya piled food onto her plate and Felix's and kissed him as he filled her glass.

They were all happy with their lives now.

"You need to wean that kid," Felix suggested to Irina."Then you too could be drinking the vino."

"He will wean himself when he is ready," Irina answered sharply. She didn't appreciate anyone telling her how to raise her little boy.

Jane finished eating and gathered the used plates and laughed as a cry sounded from the house.

"Good timing. I'll fetch him, shall I?" she asked her partner.

She placed the plates on the kitchen bench and went into the nursery and lifted the baby out and changed his diaper.

"Mommy is waiting to feed you, precious," she said gently, and carried him outside.

"At least make him walk by himself," Felix growled. It was a man child and the sooner they started treating him like a man, the better.

Irina held out her hands and the little boy staggered her way and she lifted him into the clear blue sky.

"Well done son. You are such a clever little boy, baby Jasper."

THE END

**Yeah, feel free to throw something at me.**

**1) Alice never saw a scan.**

**2) No name on the scan photos, they were not Irina's scans.(Jane worked in the scan department)**

**3) Alice and Jasper missed the birth, both embryos took.**

**4) I ended it this way because too many readers were trusting me. Never trust me! **

**5)Victoria used the word "fluff" in her last review. I dont do fluff.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Okay, opinion is so divided about that ending...if you liked it, don't read this. If you are upset about baby Jasper, then here's your HEA. Personally I'm sick of HEA's but I guess I did promise them here on this user and I should keep my word.**

The Sperm Donor

Alternate Epilogue

"Dr Cullen, Mr Whitlock is here to see you," my receptionist announced. I had a pretty good idea what about. Alice had been plagued with doubts and nightmares ever since the pregnancy and was now having visions of some sort during the day as well.

"Edward, you need to help her. Who can you refer us to?" Jasper asked anxiously.

"Jasper, you know you are the top psychiatrist in the state, I send all my patients to you. I would have thought you would know better than I who could help her. I will have to ask around and see who has the best reputation out of state. How bad is she?"

"Completely freaking me out, to be honest. I can't even think about who would be able to help without them wanting to admit her to a mental health facility and she doesn't need to be put away like that. She functions and looks after the baby flawlessly. It's just that she swears she can see a second child in Jacinta's crib.

A little boy with blond curls and my blue eyes. It's destroying us as a family, Edward. She cries over him, and calls out in the night, promising we will find him."

"I can't say I've ever encountered a similar case," I replied. "I have seen some women react this way if they lost one twin due to stillbirth or prematurity, but those cases, as you know, are obvious and just a way of coping with loss. This seems to stem from the fact two embryos were used. Strange she 'knows' the gender, and the appearance of the baby. Jacinta has Alice's eyes, you would think she'd project her coloring onto the 'lost twin'."

"It seems more than that. You know we had five embryos that made the grade and seven were destroyed due to not coming up to par. I would have expected some reaction about them as well if she feels so strongly but she sees them as collateral damage.

I mean, she wishes they'd never been made and lost but she copes with what happened to them because the whole process that led to their end also led to Jacinta's birth. She justifies their sacrifice with the fact many women lose pre embryos naturally and never know they existed. She's lumped them into that category in her mind. It's a common reaction but this 'missing baby' has me stumped. I can't tell you how many nights she's woken me up with her cries to 'baby Jasper'."

"Jas, there's no evidence that the other embryo even implanted and died. It was simply lost.

Look at the scans."

I pulled them from Alice's file and we examined them in detail. There had never been a second 'lump', and even comparing them to Bella's early scans with the twins only showed even more so that Irina had only carried one baby.

"Jacey looks so tall and long limbed at this stage," Jasper commented affectionately, tapping at the six month scan. "You would have suspected she would be quite tall. She must have slowed down a lot after this one."

Suddenly I had that feeling back. I had always thought there was something amiss about that batch of photos and hearing Jasper comment with the same thought I had experienced, bothered me.

I checked the measurements of the thigh bone, then compared them to the seven month scans.

"Her femur is shorter at seven months. That can't happen."

"What do you mean?" Jasper asked.

"I assumed growth slowed down but her bones could not get shorter, unless she had some syndrome or bone disease that I've never heard about. It would be obvious by now if she did, therefore she doesn't. One set of scans is not Jacey, either the sixth or seventh month. That cannot be the same baby in both."

Jasper checked my calculations and agreed and I called in an expert for his opinion. By luck we had the leading man right here working on two cases that had popped up randomly. Dr James specialised in pre birth diagnosis of rare bone conditions so he would know if this disparity was possible.

"Not only are the six and seven month scans a different baby, they all are," he concluded.

"Look at the skull in month five. Then compare it to month six. That baby has a very broad forehead. Then a month later, it's narrow. Doesn't happen. Then it's average in month eight and narrow again before birth. If these were all of the one child, it would be seriously challenged at birth, with some soft bone issue. I wouldn't expect it to survive a vaginal delivery."

"But they have the baby, and all her tests and growth patterns are perfectly normal. She was born, handed over and her DNA confirms she is Alice and Jasper's child," I said out loud.

"You did a DNA test on Jacey?" Jasper asked.

"Sorry, Jas. I just had some nagging paranoid doubts and didn't want to upset you and Alice. I would have told you had the tests shown it wasn't your child. I just can't see what this means."

"The surrogate had a normal pregnancy, with scans every month, yet somehow sent the wrong scans to you each and every time. I can't even see how that would happen even once. Repeatedly...never. Who did the scans? That hospital needs to investigate the operator," Dr James stated. "You did notice the lack of a patients name on these scans? That's bordering on illegal. It's sloppy work and can't happen from mere incompetence, the operator has to actually override the request for a patients name. This cannot happen by accident."

"Jane," I answered. "Jane Volturi who used the name Jane Alexander. Clearly, we were set up from the start. The only reason she would send substitute scans is to hide the real ones from us. Therefore there was something about the pregnancy she and Irina didn't want you to know. God, could it be possible they kept a twin?"

"What?" Jasper said in shock.

"Jas, the scans show a single fetus, and why send someone else's scans unless you have to hide something? I think Alice is right."

X~x~X

Jenks tossed his report on the desk and stood before me.

"All I can tell you is they went to Italy and haven't travelled anywhere else. There's no record of property owned or purchased under any of those names. However, Tanya Denali has also gone to live in the same country and I suspect they have used a friend or relative to hide whatever they have purchased. Without a name, I can't help you further."

I suspected as much so wasn't really surprised. The Denali's had always kept their business private and even when Tanya and I were supposedly marrying, nothing had ever been shared with me. I had assumed they were wary I may be marrying her for family money, but that was a joke. In reality the Cullen's should have been the one's wary of gold diggers.

Maybe the only way to find out the truth would be to reconnect to my ex fiance and play her. I despised resorting to deception but a child's life was at stake, not to mention Alice's sanity.

Jasper had decided to simply comfort his wife when she talked about 'baby Jasper' and not confirm or deny his existence until we knew for sure ourselves. It was only a theory, but why else had they palmed us off with someone else's scans?

Facebook, the gathering place of this generation, would be my tool.

Tanya had 'friended' me years ago but as I rarely used the site, and only ever posted non personal details there, I had accepted her request. She occasionally contacted me via that medium and Bella was happy with me replying to her as a friend.

Now I was about to change things.

We sat down together and decided on a plan of action. The easiest was a high school mentality ploy to convince Tanya all was not rosy between Bella and I, and for me to 'cry on her shoulder'. She would like that. So, having un-friended anyone I didn't want to read the lies, I sent her a message of frustration with my life.

_Tanya, I need you advice. You have known me longer than anyone else. I hope you can overlook my careless treatment of you in the past and help me. You know the saying, be careful what you wish for, it seems it's a very true warning. I thought Bella was perfect and would always be everything I ever desired, what a fool I am. Having to accept her flaws is proving very difficult, can you offer me some insight? I know I was incredibly harsh over your abortion and used it as a way to put all the blame for our problems onto you, unfair as that was. It's not like she hasn't done the same thing herself, but we have the kids and I can't just discard her harshly as I did you. Please contact me, and tell me what you think I should do. Edward._

We both reread the message and altered a few words then I hit 'send'.

I had no clue how often she checked her mail so it was encouraging to find an answer when we checked in the morning.

_Edward, of course I want to help. Bella had an abortion? I can sympathize , sometimes it is the only way out but why would she do that? We do need to talk. Can I call you? Need your number. Tanya xxxx_

_Tanya, thanks so much for replying. As you know Bella had twins and then she conceived again soon after their delivery and she decided it was not the right time and it would be too overwhelming so she arranged and had a termination without consulting me. It seems I am still unavailable to the women I love. I thought I learned my lesson when you felt unable to talk to me about our unplanned pregnancy, but it seems I am still making the same mistakes. We have a third child now, but it can't make up for the lost one in my eyes. To think I sent you away for that same crime! Now I understand why you did it, and you weren't married with a loyal husband and children at the time. I can't forgive her but I can't just walk out. Having known the joy of fatherhood, I would never be able to live a life without the presence of a child in the house I lived in._

_I would miss the twins and Charles, terribly, but looking at their little faces just reminds me of their brother or sister that never got to be born._

_Edward. xxx_

Bella decided the words were right and I sent my answer. I purchased a pre paid mobile phone and gave Tanya the number so she alone would be calling it. Suggesting evenings would be the best time, Bella then posted a stack of old photos on her own Facebook page of her out partying with the girls and added captions to make it appear this was current stuff, going on right now.

When Tanya called, we had just settled the children into bed, and Bella curled up on my lap as I sat on the sofa and complained about her 'reckless, uncaring behaviour' to my ex, whining about how she was out most nights and left me with the kids but no adult companionship.

I reminisced about the good times, and there had been some, back in High School and at college before things went pear shaped, and glossed over the bad times Tanya and I had experienced.

Everything had been wonderful and I bitterly regretted ever breaking up with her.

After each call, Bella suggested I should have become an actor, as I managed to sound genuinely unhappy with my choices, even while my wife was kissing my throat and handling my body parts, as I whinged and lamented to Tanya.

As hoped, Tanya was one hundred per cent on my side and started telling me all the reasons she had seen as to why Bella and I were a doomed couple from the start and I tried not to choke as I agreed with every one of them.

Oh, had I only had Tanya's brilliant insights. She and I would be married now.

"Edward, you never married her, why not just leave her and come back to me?" she asked, finally.

Bella silently high fived me.

"Tanya, you and I cannot ever have a child and my life would be too empty without one. I can't bring any of mine, they are all registered in Bella's name and she didn't even put me on their birth certificates," I lied. "It would take years of court battles for me to be allowed to keep one of them, and anyway, I explained, looking at their faces reminds me of the one she threw away. It would break my heart.

There's no solution, Tanya. If only you and I had already had a child, then I would run to you in a minute.

Bella has no idea how much money I have, you and I and our child could buy a house somewhere, maybe Alaska, you like the snow. Alas, I can't do that. I have to have a child to raise or I would always be tempted to come back to Bella and forgive her."

X~x~X

Tanya Denali stood by the crib and gazed at what could be the solution.

Irina couldn't report the kidnapping to the police, because that would lead to DNA tests and proof she herself was a child stealer.

And baby Jasper was almost family to Edward.

He was the solution.

Things had broken down between Felix and herself, mainly because she was always on the phone to her ex almost husband.

It was time to make a move. She generously paid for her sister and Jane to have a day at a day spa in a city about two hours drive away and had assisted Irina in stockpiling breastmilk for the toddler, then she and the baby waved them off , looking forward to a whole day of playing Auntie Tanya, she had stated.

"Now don't be calling every five minutes to check on him. I will call you if he so much as sneezes. Have fun and I will lock the door and not let you two back inside if you are home before midnight. Here's the tickets for a show I know you want to see, and I've booked you in for dinner afterwards at Guiseppe's. If you want to stay overnight and make a honeymoon of it, then I've made reservations for that, here's the details. I will see you at two am at the earliest, or better still, some time tomorrow. Call at eight to say good night to Jasper but other than that, no calls, you hear?"

Irina was reluctant at first but Jane was so tired of all the domestic bliss and watching the baby usurp her that she winked at Tanya and assured her they would be home some time the next day. She even kissed Tanya's cheek and thanked her for thinking about doing this for them.

The second their car was out of sight, Tanya packed her car with a few essentials and strapped the boy into the carseat and headed in the opposite direction to the airport.

Edward had promised to buy her everything shiny and new. He had always been so generous.

Now they had a real chance to be happy, and that Bella creature would find out what it was like to be discarded for the woman he really loved.

Landing in Seattle, she rushed off the plane first and smiled and waved at the tall, copperhaired man waiting to take her away to Paradise.

X~x~X

BPOV

The look on Tanya's face was priceless. She had handed the toddler to Edward, like he was some toy whose home and parents were completely interchangeable. I had to place my hand on Jasper's arm and hold him back, his instincts were urging him to run and claim what was his. The son stolen by that woman's sister.

Edward held baby Jasper on his hip and put his other hand around Tanya's shoulder and kissed her cheek.

"Thanks so much, Tanya. I couldn't think of any other way," he admitted, though of course, she assumed he meant, of them being together and raising a child.

Then she caught sight of Jasper and I and her face paled.

"Edward, they've followed you here, we have to run," she warned, still not getting what was happening.

The police officer standing at our sides stepped forward and took her wrist.

"Tanya Denali, I am arresting you on suspicion..."

It was music to all our ears and Edward stepped towards Jas and introduced him to the child we could all see with our own eyes, was his son.

X~x~X

Edward took the blood sample as Jasper cradled the drowsy boy in his arms and he took it to the lab and tested it himself. Enough common markers showed in the preliminary test to prove his theory and the judge he'd called on for a favor approved that baby Jasper be temporarily placed in his father's custody until the full case was heard.

We drove home to Alice's and it was a sight I would never forget.

Edward and I got out of the car, shielding Jasper and the boy from Alice as she stood in their yard, watching Jacey play in her sandbox.

She turned and waved.

"Bella, what's up? No kids with you? I was hoping you had come over with someone for Jacey to play with."

"Then you are in luck," Jasper said, pushing past us, walking towards Alice, and holding the hand of the baby Alice already knew, in her own way.

"Baby Jasper," she said, her face confused, her arms reaching for the son only she had always known existed.

Edward and I watched them as Alice scooped the boy into her arms and hugged him tightly. He never cried or made a sound but as Jasper lifted up Jacey, the children held out a hand to one another and touched for the first time since their births.

"Come on, our work here is done," Edward said with a smile and kissed my head.

"We have children to get home to."

THE VERY END


End file.
